Managing patients with myelofibrosis and thrombocytopenia.

Up to 25% of patients with myelofibrosis have platelet counts below 100,000 at presentation. Patients with thrombocytopenia are more likely to be anemic and PRBC transfusion-dependent, as well as have high-risk disease characteristics and a poor overall survival rate. Among all JAK inhibitors studied in phase 3 clinical trials, pacritinib seems not to induce significant thrombocytopenia while maintaining a good spleen response. Severe thrombocytopenia is a major impediment to myelofibrosis therapy, and more research, particularly on novel therapeutic agents aimed at cytopenic patient populations, is needed.