October 26, 2023
By Patrick Daly
According to a single-center, retrospective analysis in Hämostaseologie, myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN)-associated arterial thromboembolic events (ATEs) and venous thromboembolic events (VTEs) are frequent, and “while [polycythemia vera (PV)] patients or generally JAK2-mutated MPN patients had a significantly increased risk of such vascular events, this risk was reduced in CALR-mutated MPN patients.”
Lead author Kai Wille, MD, of the Johannes Wesling Medical Center Minden at the University of Bochum in Germany, wrote that patients with BCR–ABL-negative MPN frequently experience morbidity and mortality due to these events; however, few studies have reviewed both MPN-associated ATEs and VTEs across all MPN subtypes.
Uncontrolled MPN at Higher Risk of VTE, ATE
Among 892 patients with MPNs with a median follow-up of 6.6 years (range, 0.0-37.6 years), researchers identified 180 first TEs comprising 105 VTEs and 75 ATEs. The probability of an event by the end of the follow-up period was 36.2%, and the incidence rate for any first TE was 2.43% patient/year.
The most frequent VTE type was deep vein thrombosis with or without pulmonary embolism at a rate of 0.59% patient/year, and the most frequent ATE was stroke at a rate of 0.32% patient/year.
Between the 180 patients with a TE and the 652 without, patients with PV had a significantly increased risk of a TE (hazard ratio [HR], 1.660; 95% CI, 1.206-2.286) compared with other MPN subtypes. Conversely, CALR-mutated MPN had a significantly reduced risk of thromboembolism compared with JAK2-mutated MPN (HR, 0.346; 95% CI, 0.172-0.699).
“In summary, our study shows a significantly increased risk of VTE and ATE (often at “unusual” sites) in MPN patients compared with the healthy population, and this risk seems to be particularly increased in newly diagnosed and/or uncontrolled MPN.” Dr. Wille concluded.
Reference
Wille K, Deventer E, Sadjadian P, et al. Arterial and venous thromboembolic complications in 832 patients with BCR-ABL-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms. Hamostaseologie. 2023. doi:10.1055/a-2159-8767