Polycythemia vera. A review of fifty cases with emphasis on the risk of surgery.

Introduction Polycythemia vera was first described by Vaquez in 1892. 1 Osler, in 1903, collected 6 cases and proposed that this syndrome constituted a new clinical entity. 2 At the present time polycythemia vera is usually classified as one of the myeloproliferative syndromes, 3,4 because apparent transformations among polycythemia vera, acute leukemia, chronic myelocytic leukemia, myelofibrosis, and Digulielmo's syndrome have been observed; however, the cause of all these syndromes remains obscure. Polycythemia vera has been the subject of some excellent reviews. 5-7 The purpose of this paper is to review the clinical course, complications, and prognosis of polycythemia vera as exemplified by a group of 50 patients, with particular reference to the problem of surgical risk in this disorder. Materials and Methods The records of 50 patients with polycythemia vera seen at the University of Virginia Hospital between the years of 1940 and 1958 have been reviewed. Information about these patients has been obtained

[1]  G. Stecher,et al.  [Polycythemia vera. II]. , 1961, Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift.

[2]  P. Calabresi,et al.  Polycythemia vera. II. Course and therapy. , 1959, Annals of internal medicine.

[3]  W. Dameshek,et al.  The Di Guglielmo syndrome. , 1959, Blood.

[4]  J. Louis.  Treatment of polycythemia vera with busulfan (myleran). , 1958, Journal of the American Medical Association.

[5]  M. Burnet.  Leukemia as a problem in preventive medicine. , 1958, The New England journal of medicine.

[6]  N. Wald,et al.  Therapy of polycythemia vera with myleran. , 1958, Blood.

[7]  W. Dameshek,et al.  Editorial—he Di Guglielmo Syndrome , 1958 .

[8]  J. H. Lawrence,et al.  THE PROBLEM OF LEUKEMIA IN POLYCYTHEMIA VERA , 1957, The American journal of the medical sciences.

[9]  F. Siegman,et al.  Hemorrhagic tendency in polycythemia vera. , 1955, A.M.A. archives of surgery.

[10]  L. Wasserman.  Polycythemia vera: its course and treatment; relation to myeloid metaplasia and leukemia. , 1954, Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine.

[11]  J. H. Lawrence,et al.  THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF POLYCYTHEMIA STUDIES ON 263 PATIENTS , 1953, Medicine.

[12]  W. Arrowsmith,et al.  Vascular complications of polycythemia vera; a study of 68 cases. , 1953, The Surgical clinics of North America.

[13]  R. Dobson,et al.  The bone marrow picture in polycythemia vera before and after treatment with radioactive phosphorus. , 2009, Acta medica Scandinavica.

[14]  E. Ornitz,et al.  The electrolytic resistance of the blood clot in polycythemia vera before and after radiation and its relationship to clot retraction. , 1951, American journal of clinical pathology.

[15]  C. Stroebel,et al.  Evaluation of radiophosphorus therapy in primary polycythemia. , 1951, Journal of the American Medical Association.

[16]  W. Dameshek.  Editorial: Some Speculations on the Myeloproliferative Syndromes , 1951 .

[17]  B. Bouroncle,et al.  The treatment of polycythemia vera with radioactive phosphorus. , 1951, Annals of internal medicine.

[18]  L. Ehrlich,et al.  The relationship of polycythemia vera to leukemia; a critical review. , 1950, Acta haematologica.

[19]  Spurr Cl,et al.  A clinical study of the use of nitrogen mustard therapy in polycythemia vera. , 1950 .

[20]  Rosenthal Rl.  Blood coagulation in leucemia and polycythemia; value of the heparin clotting time and clot retraction rate. , 1949 .

[21]  W. Dameshek,et al.  THE DIAGNOSIS OF POLYCYTHEMIA , 1940 .

[22]  E. Allen,et al.  The vascular complications of polycythemia , 1937 .