quality:correction, structural:scholar_edition, structural:expansion
Surgery

Splenectomy (removal of the spleen) may be considered in patients who are either unresponsive to steroid treatment, have frequent relapses, or cannot be tapered off steroids after a few months. Platelets which have been bound by antibodies are taken up by macrophages in the spleen (which have Fc receptors), and so removal of the spleen reduces platelet destruction. The procedure is potentially risky in ITP cases due to the increased possibility of significant bleeding during surgery. Durable remission following splenectomy is achieved in 60 — 80 percent of ITP cases. Even though there is a consensus regarding the short-term efficacy of splenectomy, findings on its long-term efficacy and side-effects are controversial. After splenectomy, 11.6–75 percent of ITP cases relapsed, and 8.7–40 percent of ITP cases had no response to splenectomy. The use of splenectomy to treat ITP has diminished since the development of steroid therapy and other pharmaceutical remedies.