Background: Romiplostim is a second-generation thrombopoietic receptor agonist that exerts its therapeutic effect by stimulating megakaryopoiesis.
Case report: We report a patient with immune thrombocytopenic purpura refractory to other therapies including splenectomy, which was successfully managed with romiplostim. More specifically, the patient's platelet count showed a 3-fold increase within 7 days following the first dose of romiplostim (from 33 x 10(9)/l to 96 x 10(9)/l).
Conclusions: Romiplostin is a new trombopoietin peptide mimetic drug, which seems to be very effective for the management of refractory chronic ITP in adults.