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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffPossible complications of polycythemia vera include:
- Blood clots. Polycythemia vera causes your blood to be thicker than normal, which can slow the rate of blood flow through your veins and arteries. Increased blood thickness and decreased blood flow, as well as abnormalities in your platelets, increase your risk of blood clots. Blood clots can cause a stroke, a heart attack, or blockage of an artery in your lungs (pulmonary embolism) or in a vein deep within a muscle (deep vein thrombosis).
- Enlarged spleen (splenomegaly). Your spleen helps your body fight infection and filter unwanted material, such as old or damaged blood cells. The increased number of blood cells caused by polycythemia vera makes your spleen work harder than normal, which causes it to enlarge. If your spleen becomes too large, it sometimes may need to be removed.
- Skin problems. Polycythemia vera may cause your skin to itch, especially after a warm bath or shower, or after sleeping in a warm bed. You may experience a burning or tingling sensation in your skin, particularly on your arms, legs, hands or feet. Your skin may also appear red, especially on your face, palms and earlobes.
- Problems due to high levels of red blood cells. Too many red blood cells can lead to a number of other complications, including open sores on the inside lining of your stomach, upper small intestine or esophagus (peptic ulcers), inflammation in your joints (gout), and uric acid stones in your kidneys.
- Other blood disorders. In rare cases, polycythemia vera may lead to other blood diseases, including a progressive disorder in which bone marrow is replaced with scar tissue (myelofibrosis), a condition in which stem cells don't mature or function properly (myelodysplastic syndrome), or cancer of the blood and bone marrow (acute leukemia).
References
- Diseases and conditions index: What is polycythemia vera. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/poly/poly_whatis.html. Accessed Jan. 21, 2009.
- Tefferi A, et al. Prognosis and treatment of polycythemia vera. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 5, 2009.
- Sirhan S, et al. Management of polycythemia vera. In: Silver RT. Myeloproliferative Disorders: Biology and Management. New York, N.Y.: Informa Healthcare; 2008:87.
- Polycythemia vera. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. www.merck.com/mmpe/sec11/ch141/ch141d.html#sec11-ch141-ch141d-694. Accessed Feb. 5, 2009.
- P-32. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/templates/db_alpha.aspx?CdrID=44869. Accessed Feb. 14, 2009.
