Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine
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The current American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines for the management of patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) are an update to the 2011 guidelines. The updates focus on treating patients with ITP without bleeding in both outpatient and inpatient settings, including those with newly diagnosed, persistent, and chronic ITP refractory to first-line therapy. Recommendations for therapy include corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulins, anti-D immunoglobulin, rituximab, splenectomy, and thrombopoietin-receptor agonists, as well as observation.
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Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) can detect bone mineral density loss before it can be identified on usual skeletal radiography, making it possible to diagnose osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and older men before clinical fractures arise. However, when DXA is used outside these populations or if the clinical picture does not match the reported T-scores, mistakes can arise in interpreting results and determining the need for pharmaceutical therapy.