Table 1

2001 WHO criteria for polycythemia vera

2001 criteria for PV
A-criteria 
    1. Elevated red cell mass > 25% above mean normal predicted value, or hemoglobin > 18.5 g/dL in men, 16.5 g/dL in women, or > 99th percentile of method-specific reference range for age, sex, altitude of residence 
    2. No cause of secondary erythrocytosis, including: 
        a. Absence of familial erythrocytosis 
        b. No elevation of erythropoietin caused by: 
            i. Hypoxia (arterial pO2 ≤ 92%) 
            ii. High oxygen affinity hemoglobin 
            iii. Truncated erythropoietin receptor 
            iv. Inappropriate erythropoietin production by tumor 
    3. Splenomegaly 
    4. Clonal genetic abnormality other than Philadelphia chromosome or BCR-ABL fusion gene in marrow cells 
    5. Endogenous erythroid colony formation 
B-criteria 
    1. Thrombocytosis > 400 × 109/L 
    2. Leukocytosis > 12 × 109/L 
    3. Bone marrow biopsy showing panmyelosis with prominent erythroid and megakaryocytic proliferation 
    4. Low serum erythropoietin levels 
2001 criteria for PV
A-criteria 
    1. Elevated red cell mass > 25% above mean normal predicted value, or hemoglobin > 18.5 g/dL in men, 16.5 g/dL in women, or > 99th percentile of method-specific reference range for age, sex, altitude of residence 
    2. No cause of secondary erythrocytosis, including: 
        a. Absence of familial erythrocytosis 
        b. No elevation of erythropoietin caused by: 
            i. Hypoxia (arterial pO2 ≤ 92%) 
            ii. High oxygen affinity hemoglobin 
            iii. Truncated erythropoietin receptor 
            iv. Inappropriate erythropoietin production by tumor 
    3. Splenomegaly 
    4. Clonal genetic abnormality other than Philadelphia chromosome or BCR-ABL fusion gene in marrow cells 
    5. Endogenous erythroid colony formation 
B-criteria 
    1. Thrombocytosis > 400 × 109/L 
    2. Leukocytosis > 12 × 109/L 
    3. Bone marrow biopsy showing panmyelosis with prominent erythroid and megakaryocytic proliferation 
    4. Low serum erythropoietin levels 

Diagnosis requires the presence of the first 2 A-criteria together with either any 1 other A-criterion or 2 B-criteria.

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