This week's artwork was donated by Dathan, a pediatric cancer patient who received treatment at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia . Diagnosis depends on findings from the blood, bone marrow, physical examination, and the exclusion of other causes of erythrocytosis. Specific criteria have been established by the Polycythemia Vera Study Group for the diagnosis of p. vera. The diagnosis is established if the patient fulfills all three major criteria or the first 2 major criteria and any 2 minor criteria.
Serum erythropoietin is either absent or found in very low levels in patients with p. vera.
In most patients there is no stainable iron found in the bone marrow. There is no staging system for this disease. Agnogenic myeloid metaplasia Agnogenic myeloid metaplasia is characterized by splenomegaly, immature peripheral blood granulocytes and erythrocytes, and teardrop-shaped red cells. Marrow fibrosis is often a prominent feature. Splenomegaly, sometimes massive, is a characteristic finding.