What are the end stages of myelofibrosis?

The end result is usually a lack of red blood cells — which causes the anemia characteristic of myelofibrosis — and an overabundance of white blood cells and varying levels of platelets. In people with myelofibrosis, the normally spongy bone marrow becomes scarred.

What are the symptoms of end stage myelofibrosis?

experiencing symptoms that affect your entire body, such as fever, fatigue, and weight loss. having anemia, or a low red blood cell count. having an abnormally high white blood cell count. having circulating blood blasts (immature white blood cells) greater than 1 percent.

What is the longest you can live with myelofibrosis?

Transcript:Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD: Myelofibrosis is one of the myeloproliferative neoplasms, a chronic disease of the bone marrow. It is, unfortunately, the aggressive type. It does affect the life expectancy of the patients. The average survival is about 5 to 7 years.

What causes death with myelofibrosis?

The common causes of death in patients with primary myelofibrosis are infections, hemorrhage, cardiac failure, postsplenectomy mortality, and transformation into acute leukemia.

Is myelofibrosis life threatening?

Myelofibrosis is uncommon, but potentially deadly if left untreated. Normally, your bone marrow produces all kinds of blood cells. Myelofibrosis (MF) disrupts this process and causes the marrow to produce scar tissue instead of vital cells.

What happens if myelofibrosis goes untreated?

One of the biggest complications with myelofibrosis, especially if left untreated, is that patients can develop progressive abdominal distension and, as result of that, abdominal pain and early satiety. Once patients develop early satiety, they develop weight loss.

Is myelofibrosis aggressive?

In about 12% of all cases, primary myelofibrosis will progress to acute myeloid leukemia, a very aggressive form of blood cancer.

Can myelofibrosis spread to other organs?

Growths: Blood cells are supposed to form inside your bone marrow. But myelofibrosis might cause them to grow in other parts of your body, like your lungs, liver, spleen, and digestive tract. This can cause clumps or tumors that your doctor will call extramedullary hematopoiesis.

Can you live a long life with myelofibrosis?

Life expectancy in PMF Primary myelofibrosis, also known as idiopathic myelofibrosis or myelofibrosis with myeloid metaplasia, is a rare disease19, 20 usually affecting elderly people. Median survival ranges from 4 to 5.5 years in modern series6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 (Figure 1).