Thromboembolic Events in Patients with Polycythemia Vera

Andrew Kuykendall, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, discussed his abstract titled, “Real-World Analysis of Thromboembolic Event Rates in Patients in the United States with Polycythemia Vera,” presented at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.

The study looked at large real-world databases of over 105 million patients in the United States, including 20,000 evaluable patients with polycythemia vera (PV). These data lend insight into how often patients with PV experience thromboembolic events before and after their diagnoses and how they differ based upon risk status. About a quarter of patients with PV experienced at least one thromboembolic event such as stroke and myocardial infarction, according to the database.

“I think this can help us as we as we try to individualize care for patients with [PV] moving forward,” Dr. Kuykendall said, “Especially as we move into an era where we’re leveraging therapeutic agents either earlier in the disease process or trying to make sure that we’re choosing the right agent for the patient who comes into our clinic.”

Patients who have high-risk disease are defined as being over the age of 60 or having a prior thromboembolic event. Low-risk patients are defined as under 60 and have never had a thromboembolic event.

“This allows us to have some better understanding when we counsel patients of what their true risk is in a more modern study,” Dr. Kuykendall concluded.