What is myelofibrosis?
It is a disease of the bone marrow in which the bone marrow becomes fibrotic. This fibrotic scar tissue inside the marrow cavity eventually takes over leading to increasingly inefficient blood cell production and ultimately may result in bone marrow failure. It may be called by several names including primary or idiopathic myelofibrosis (more common in the British health system) or agnogenic myeloid metaplasia (usually used in the USA). These names describe a situation where myelofibrosis is the first disease diagnosed. It is also possible to have myelofibrosis as a consequence of another myeloproliferative diseases such as polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), or chronic myelogenous leukemia.In the setting of a myeloproliferative disorder, myelofibrosis is accompanied by varying degrees of myeloid metaplasia (often seen as enlargement of spleen and/or liver), due to reactivation of fetal hematopoietic sites than are normally dormant in adult life.
Definition Myelofibrosis is a rare disease of the bone marrow in which collagen builds up fibrous scar tissue inside the marrow cavity. This is caused by the uncontrolled growth of a blood cell precursor, which results in the accumulation of scar tissue in bone marrow. Myelofibrosis goes by many names including idiopathic myelofibrosis, agnogenic myeloid metaplasia, chronic myelosclerosis, aleukemic megakaryocytic myelosis, and leukoerythroblastosis. Description Myelofibrosis can be associated with many other conditions including breast cancer, prostate cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, multiple myeloma, myeloproliferative diseases, tuberculosis, Gaucher’s disease, and Paget’s disease of bone. Myelofibrosis typically becomes progressively worse and can cause death. In myelofibrosis, abnormal cells (hematopoietic stem cells) grow out of control and begin to produce both immature blood cells and exc
