Occult hemorrhage in Egyptian children with Immune thrombocytopenia

Background Occult hemorrhage can occur in any internal organ in ITP patients. Four sites of occult hemorrhage deserve special attention including microscopic hematuria, fecal occult blood, retinal hemorrhage, and silent intracranial hemorrhage. Aim The aim of this study was to investigate for the frequency of subclinical bleeding in Egyptian children with ITP and its relation to different clinical and laboratory parameters of the disease. Methods This cross-sectional study included 40 ITP patients recruited from the Pediatric Hematology& Oncology unit, Children Hospital, Ain Shams University. Occult blood in stools and urine analysis, fundus examination, and non-contrast brain MRI, for brain microbleed, were done. Results The total number of patients with occult bleeds was eleven. Two patients had occult blood in stool, five had microscopic hematuria, one had retinal bleeds and three patients had brain microbleeds. Nine patients with occult bleeding were chronic, one persistent and one acute ITP patients. Their mean age was 10.23 ± 4.18 and their mean initial bleeding score was 2.55 ± 0.82.There were no significant differences between patients with occult bleeding and those without as regards the platelet counts & hemoglobin level, as well as the mean platelet counts & mean hemoglobin level over the disease duration. Conclusion Our results suggest that subclinical bleeding is a potential risk in children with ITP, more commonly chronic ITP patients. We could not demonstrate a significant relation of occult bleeding to the laboratory findings; nevertheless, the significance of the routine assessment of occult bleeding in ITP and the identification of high-risk patients require additional studies.