The Importance of Evaluating the Frequency of Thrombotic Events in Patients with Polycythemia Vera JAK2 V617F Positive
Abstract
The polycythemia vera is a myeloproliferative neoplasia whose overall incidence is 0.7-2.6 cases per 100.000
inhabitants a year, what increases with the ages of the patients, independently of sex. PV patients have a higher
risk of occurrence of thrombotic events, considering these are the cause of morbidity and mortality of them.
The aim of this research was to evaluate the frequency of thrombotic events in patients with polycythemia vera
treated in a medical center. We did a molecular analysis of the gene JAK2, evaluating the exons 12 and 14 in
samples from 26 patients clinically diagnosed with the disease, in the period of March to September, 2013. As
we found, 92.3% of the patients were positive to the mutation JAK2 V617F (exon 14), and 7.7% were negative
also to the mutations on the exon 12. The frequency of thrombotic events in these patients was evaluated,
describing the main clinical characteristics associated with this mutation. Around 29.16% of the JAK2 V617F
positive patients had arterial or venous thrombosis, considering that the venous thrombosis was more frequent.
The percentage of patients with the mutation JAK2 V617F, and the frequency of thrombosis in PV JAK2 positive
patients demonstrated in our study, is according to the data presented in the literature. With this work, we
emphasize the role of the research on this mutation into the causes of thrombotic events, especially in unusual
site, pointing the myeloproliferative neoplasia as the cause of thrombophilia.
