THE CHANGING PROFILE OF IDIOPATHIC MYELOFIBROSIS - A COMPARISON OF THE PRESENTING FEATURES OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED IN 2 DIFFERENT DECADES

In an attempt to ascertain whether the presenting features of idiopath ic myelofibrosis (IM) have changed in recent years, 2 groups of patien ts diagnosed with IM in a single institution in different time periods were compared. The first group included 53 patients diagnosed from 19 75 to 1986, and the second included 56 patients diagnosed from 1987 to 1997. No significant differences were observed between the two groups with regard to age, gender, delay from first symptoms to disease diag nosis, peripheral blood hematological values and serum biochemical par ameters. Patients diagnosed prior to 1987 presented more often with co nstitutional symptoms (fever, night sweats, weight loss), but the diff erence did not reach statistical significance. These latter patients h ad, however, a higher frequency of splenomegaly (91% vs. 73%, p=0.01) and hepatomegaly (79% vs. 48%, p=0.002), and were more often in the os teosclerotic phase at diagnosis (p=0.05) than patients more recently d iagnosed. Finally, no significant differences were found between both groups in either the distribution by prognostic scores or survival. Th e above results seem to indicate a trend towards a less florid clinica l picture of IM at presentation in recent years. This, however, does n ot result in a longer patient survival.