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Symptom Burden in Patients with Polycythemia Vera

Leuk Lymphoma; ePub 2016 Nov 10; Scherber, et al

Publish date:

There was a link between traditional aggressive therapy for polycythemia vera (PV) and increased symptom burden with prolonged therapy in an analysis involving 869 individuals.

Participants—all with PV—were from the CYTO PV trial (n=224) and MPN-SAF study (n=645). Investigators looked at hematocrit control in CYTO PV, and symptom scores in MPN-SAF. Among the results:

  • No significant differences in symptom burden were seen at 6 and 12 months in the CYTO PV cohort.
  • Patients in the MPN-SAF cohort with a worst item score of greater than 5/10 on the Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Symptom Total Symptom Score had a significantly lower average hematocrit.

The authors concluded that symptom burden should be considered when making therapy decisions in the second-line setting for PV.

Citation:

Scherber R, Geyer H, Dueck A, et al. The potential role of hematocrit control on symptom burden among polycythemia vera patients: Insights from the CYTO-PV and MPN-SAF patient cohorts. [Published online ahead of print November 10, 2016]. Leuk Lymphoma. doi:10.1080/10428194.2016.1246733.

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