About Polycythemia Vera

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About Polycythemia Vera

What is PV?

Polycythemia vera (pol-e-sy-THEE-me-uh VEER-uh, PV) is a rare and chronic blood cancer. It’s part of a group of blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms (my-e-lo-pro-lif-er-a-tive neo-plasms), or MPNs.

Stem cells in the bone marrow make all the blood cells in your body: red and white blood cells, and platelets. Your body needs a certain amount of each one. Normally, your body keeps everything in balance.

PV occurs when a single stem cell in the bone marrow develops a mutation (or DNA change) and starts to make too many blood cells. For most people, this DNA change is caused by something called a JAK2 mutation.

Having too many blood cells, especially red blood cells, can cause your blood to thicken. When blood is too thick, it doesn't flow the way it needs to through your body. That's when serious health problems, like blood clots, heart attack, and stroke, may occur. Your doctor may refer to these as “thrombotic events.”

It All Starts in the Bone Marrow

blood cellblood cell
red blood cell

Red Blood Cell

white blood cell

White Blood Cell

platelets

Platelet

PV occurs when a single stem cell in the bone marrow develops a mutation (or DNA change) and starts to make too many blood cells. For most people, this DNA change is caused by something called a JAK2 mutation.

Having too many blood cells, especially red blood cells, puts can cause your blood to thicken. When blood is too thick, it doesn't flow the way it needs to through your body. That's when serious health problems, like blood clots, heart attack, and stroke, may occur. Your doctor may refer to these as “thrombotic events.”

Did you know?

In one study,
39% of people with PV had a history of thrombotic events, like blood clots, heart attack, and stroke.

About 95% of all PV cases are caused by a JAK2 mutation in a stem cell. This causes too many blood cells to be made.

PV symptoms are different for everyone

Some common PV symptoms are listed below. People living with PV may experience one or any combination of these symptoms.

  • itchy skin

    Itchy skin, especially after a warm bath or shower

  • numbness

    Numbness in the hands, feet, arms, or legs (might also be described as tingling, burning, or weakness)

  • fullness

    A feeling of fullness soon after eating (or bloating or pain in your upper left abdomen)

  • bleeding

    Unusual bleeding (nosebleeds, bleeding gums)

  • swelling

    Painful swelling of one joint (often the big toe)

  • shortness of breath

    Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing when lying down

Some people may also have vague symptoms. These symptoms may be related to PV, but they could also be brought on by other conditions. They include:

  • headache

    Headache

  • dizziness

    Dizziness

  • fatigue

    Fatigue (needing to nap during the day, or not having the energy to do things you usually do)

  • blurred vision

    Blurred vision

For some patients, having too many blood cells makes the spleen work harder than normal. This can cause it to get larger. This is called splenomegaly (splen-o-meg-a-ly).

What do you need to know about treating PV?

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If you’re living with PV, keeping your red and white blood cell and platelet counts under control is very important. In addition to putting you at risk for a thrombotic event, PV can also progress to other conditions like myelofibrosis (mie-uh-loh-fie-brOH-suhs, scarring in the bone marrow) and leukemia.

PV: The big
picture

For years, management of PV has focused on

  • Making sure that your hematocrit (he-mat-o-crit), or Hct, level is normal
    • The Hct test measures how much of your blood is made up of red blood cells.
  • Managing symptoms to improve quality of life

Your doctor can also measure your complete hematologic response (CHR), which considers:

    • All blood cell counts (red, white, and platelets)
    • Time since last phlebotomy (fluh-bot-uh-mee)
    • Spleen size
    • Thrombotic events

Talk with your doctor about why CHR is important.

BESREMi is the only FDA-approved
medicine indicated for PV that
targets the disease at its source.
Learn More
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