RSS Feeds
Polycythemia Vera and Acute Leukemia
- LEO T. NEU, M.D., F.A.C.P.;
- MARC A. SHUMAN, M.D.; and
- ELMER B. BROWN, M.D.
-
Smith-Glynn-Callaway Clinic
1211 South Glenstone
Springfield, Missouri 65804 -
Division of Hematology
Washington University School of Medicine
660 South Euclid
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Excerpt
The transformation of polycythemia vera into acute leukemia is a well-documented phenomenon and is reported to occur as a terminal complication in approximately 15% of polycythemia vera patients (1, 2). The role of 32P-therapy in the cause of leukemia in this setting is controversial. We have recently treated a patient with polycythemia vera who developed acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Subsequent to remission induction with chemotherapy, she developed polycythemia vera once again before eventually dying of acute leukemia. To our knowledge, this is the first recorded instance of this sequence of events.
The patient, a 67-year-old woman, was found to be polycythemic
