For patients with a JAK2 positive myeloproliferative neoplasm, do you always perform a bone marrow biopsy at diagnosis?

A bone marrow biopsy is very helpful at diagnosis for patients with MPN as it can clearly establish a diagnosis. Although many times we can guess a diagnosis by looking at peripheral blood counts, we can often miss pre-MF or overt MF without a bone marrow biopsy. For young patients especially, a bon...

The short answer to this question is no, I do not, and that would also be true for CALR and MPL mutations. Remember that these are gain-of-function mutations, which promote the proliferation of normal blood cells, and if the peripheral blood smear and differential count are normal, bone marrow histo...

I agree with Dr. @Dr. First Last. Bone marrow biopsy can be very helpful for many reasons. In myelofibrosis, it is critical to get the information regarding the degree of fibrosis and blast percentage. For patients with PV, it is good to obtain a baseline. Finally, for patients with thrombocytosis, ...