Good Initial Response to Rituxin

I had my first dose of rituxin infusion Mon May 9th. My platelet count before infusion was ranging from 48 - 73; On Monday May 16th, yesterday, before my 2nd infusion I had lab work done again. Today I found out my platelets rose to 134 from the first dose. I have 2 more doses to go. Prednisone helped but did not significantly raise my platelets. Now I am finally able to start tapering awful prednisone down from 70 mg to 40 mg.

My question for the group is what does this mean? This does seem like a good response, but I am wondering, from what others have said if this is likely to be an initial rise which may drop, or a response which may hold for some time, or what it may mean for the future. Maybe I can't know yet what this will mean down the road.

The important factor in predicting your response to Rituxan according to doctors at conference and articles I've seen is whether you achieve normal counts (approx 140+). Then you are more likely to have a sustained remission (in years). I've not seen any research or heard any predictions regarding speed of response. I know Sandi and I both had responses 4 weeks after the first infusion and we've had sustained remissions. That might be an interesting statistic to track amongst ourselves.
Erica

Well, a response that fast is unusual due to the mechanism in which Rituxan works. I won't say it's impossible to see a response that fast, but I would say it's possible to have a rise due to pre-meds or other concurrent treatments rather than Rituxan itself.

I guess you'll know for sure if the counts stay up for the next few weeks.

Initially I was treated with Prednisone, counts went up until I tapered off. Platelet transfussions (2) did not work so Rituxan was started. My response to Rituxan took a few weeks after the last treatment. About 11/2yrs on the first treatment. Second treatment is going on 20 months. Your counts may rise, may drop, may hold for who knows how long. We all have different responses to medications. I hope it continues to rise and hold at a good count.