title: Clinico-Hematological Profile and Risk Stratification in Patients with Essential Thrombocythemia: Experience from Pakistan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by sustained thrombocytosis and megakaryocytic hyperplasia. It is an uncommon hematological malignancy which primarily affects elderly individuals. The rational of this study was to determine its clinico-hematological profile along with risk stratification in Pakistan patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective cross sectional study, 21 patients with ET were enrolled from January 2011 to December 2014. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 21.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 56.7 ± 19.0 years (range 18-87) and the male to female ratio was 1:1.1. Of the total, 62% of patients were above 50 years of age. Overall 61.9% were diagnosed incidentally and were asymptomatic. In symptomatic patients, major complaints were weakness (19%); erythromelalgia (14.2%), transit ischemic attack (9.5%) and gastrointestinal bleed (4.7%). The mean hemoglobin count was 11.7 ± 2.4 g/dl with a total leukocyte count of 13.3 ± 8.1 x 10(9)/l and platelets count of 1188.8 ± 522.2 x 10(9)/l. Serum lactate dehydrogenase, serum creatinine and uric acid were 454.3 ± 127.8, 1.2 ± 0.5 and 7.4 ± 3.4 respectively. According to risk stratification, 57.1% were in high risk; 23.8% in intermediate risk while 19.1% in low risk group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ET in our patients in Pakistan, unlike in the West, is seen in a relatively young population. Primarily patients were asymptomatic and risk stratification revealed predominance of high risk disease in our setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Blood Bank, Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan E-mail : sadia.sultan@lnh.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sultan
authors.forename: Syed Mohammed
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Irfan
authors.forename: Quratulain
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Tanveer
authors.forename: Navaira
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan; D010976:Platelet Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013920:Thrombocythemia, Essential / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014527:Uric Acid; D003404:Creatinine; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase