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Is bone marrow biopsy indicated in patients with primary polycythemia but negative for JAK2 mutation including exon 12?

2 Answers
Mednet Member
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Hematology · Johns Hopkins University
Answered on

Thank you for your interest and your questions. I can't divine what the WHO experts were thinking (or not thinking), but they definitely had a problem when they a priori initially eschewed red cell mass (RCM) and plasma volume (PV) measurements for the diagnosis of PV because they didn't understand ...

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Mednet Member
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Hematology · Johns Hopkins University
Answered on

Contrary to the contention of the WHO MPN "experts", a bone marrow biopsy is never indicated for the diagnosis of polycythemia vera (PV). By extension, a bone marrow biopsy is also not indicated to look for myelofibrosis (MF) in PV, since MF is a reactive and reversible event in PV, which does not i...

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