Myelofibrosis patients in Belgium: disease characteristics

Abstract

Objective: To date, only a small number of epidemiological studies on myelofibrosis have been performed. The current study aimed to characterize the myelofibrosis patient population in Belgium according to predefined disease parameters (diagnosis, risk categories, hemoglobin ,10 g/dl, spleen size, constitutional symptoms, platelet count, myeloblast count), with a view to obtaining a deeper understanding of the proportion of patients that may benefit from the novel myelofibrosis therapeutic strategies. Methods: A survey was used to collect data on prevalence and disease parameters on all myelofibrosis patients seen at each of 18 participating hematologic centers in 2011. Aggregated data from all centers were used for analysis. Analyses were descriptive and quantitative. Results: A total of 250 patients with myelofibrosis were captured; of these, 136 (54%) were male and 153 (61%) were over 65 years old. One hundred sixty-five (66%) of myelofibrosis patients had primary myelofibrosis and 85 (34%) had secondary myelofibrosis. One hundred ninety-three myelofibrosis patients (77%) had a palpable spleen. About a third of patients (34%) suffered from constitutional symptoms. Two hundred twenty-two (89%) myelofibrosis patients had platelet count §50 000/ml and 201 (80%) had platelet count §100 000/ml. Of 250 patients, 85 (34%) had a myeloblast count §1%. Six (2%) patients had undergone a splenectomy. Thirteen (5.2%) patients had undergone radiotherapy for splenomegaly. Conclusions:The results of this survey provide insight into the characteristics of the Belgian myelofibrosis population. They also suggest that a large proportion of these patients could stand to benefit from the therapies currently under development.

Recommendations on the use of ruxolitinib for the treatment of myelofibrosis

“…Most cases in the whole population (60%) and patients over 65 years (73%) were classified as intermediate-2 or high risk by IPSS. In this survey, up to 66% of patients were diagnosed with PMF, around 23% with post-ET MF, and 11% with post-PV MF [11].…”

“…While HSCT is not recommended in elderly patients or patients with poor performance status or prohibitive comorbidities [13], all intermediate-2 or high-risk MF patients younger than 70 years and intermediate-1risk MF patients younger than 65 years with refractory and transfusion-dependent anemia, circulating blasts >2%, or adverse cytogenetics are candidates for HSCT [20]. Current reimbursement conditions in Belgium limit ruxolitinib use to intermediate-2 and high-risk MF patients, who often present splenomegaly and constitutional symptoms [11,21]. Recent studies showed that in intermediate-1 risk patients and in patients with constitutional symptoms without splenomegaly, ruxolitinib has a safety and efficacy profile consistent with that observed in higher-risk categories [22][23][24].…”

“…In Belgium, a cross-sectional scientific survey captured the disease characteristics of 250 MF patients in 2011 [11]. Most cases in the whole population (60%) and patients over 65 years (73%) were classified as intermediate-2 or high risk by IPSS.…”

INTERLEUKIN 1β LEVEL AND C- REACTIVE PROTEIN ROLES IN PRIMARY MYELOFIBROSIS PATIENTS TREATED WITH HYDROXYUREA AND RUXOLITINIB

“…PMF is connected with a bad prognosis in assessment with the further classic BCR/ABL-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, which may ultimately transform into acute leukemia [8].…”

Primary Idiopathic Myelofibrosis: Clinico-Epidemiological Profile and Risk Stratification in Pakistani Patients

“…PMF is associated with a worse prognosis in comparison with other classic BCR/ABL-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms, which may eventually culminate into acute leukemia (Cervantes et al, 2008;Devos et al, 2015). Yet survival may range from a few months to an excess of a decade.…”