Annual Clinical Updates in Hematological Malignancies: A Continuing Medical Education Series: Polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia: 2011 update on diagnosis, risk?stratification, and management

Posted by rob on March 5, 2011 under Uncategorized | Comments are off for this article

AbstractDisease overview:Polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET) are myeloproliferative neoplasms primarily characterized by erythrocytosis and thrombocytosis, respectively. Other disease features include leukocytosis, splenomegaly, thrombohemorrhagic complications, vasomotor disturbances, pruritus, and a small risk of disease progression into acute leukemia or myelofibrosis.Diagnosis:Diagnosis is based on JAK2 mutation status (PV and ET), serum erythropoietin (Epo) level (PV), and bone marrow histopathology (ET). The presence of a JAK2 mutation and subnormal serum Epo level confirm a diagnosis of PV. Differential diagnosis in ET should include chronic myelogenous leukemia and prefibrotic myelofibrosis.Risk stratification:Current risk stratification in PV and ET is design…
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