Case Report

Cyclosporine-Induced Immune Thrombocytopenia in a Patient with Psoriasis Vulgaris

  • Savaş Yaylı
  • Sevgi Bahadır
  • Nergiz Erkut
  • Mehmet Sönmez

J Turk Acad Dermatol 2011;5(3):0-0

Observation:

Drug-induced thrombocytopenia is a rare, but serious, adverse effect of treatment with many drugs. Cyclosporine is not a well-known cause. We show that cyclosporine which is an effective treatment option for immune thrombocytopenia may also responsible for immune thrombocytopenia in a 58-year-old patient with psoriasis. Our patient experienced thrombocytopenia with a platelet count of 20000, after four months of the therapy with cyclosporine. It was detected in regular examination of complete blood cell analyse and it was confirmed by assessment of blood smear. Because of the lack of another possible cause, cyclosporine was the probable cause of the thrombocytopenia. It was withdrawn promptly. Both of platelet count and blood smear were completely normal after ten days. As an immunoregulator on T cells, cyclosporine may cause immune thrombocytopenia by leading dysregulation of T cell immunity and increasing the number of autoreactive peripheral T lymphocytes. We point out that cyclosporine as an effective drug for treatment of psoriasis vulgaris and immune thrombocytopenia may also induce immune thrombocytopenia even after four months.

Keywords: Cyclosporine, psoriasis, thrombocytopenia