hematology and oncology
Essential Thrombocythemia
Symptoms and Signs of Essential Thrombocythemia
Common symptoms are Bruising and bleeding Ocular migraine Paresthesias of the hands and feet (manifesting as erythromelalgia) Neurologic deficits Bleeding is usually mild, rarely spontaneous, and manifests as epistaxis, easy bruisability, or gastrointestinal bleeding. However, serious bleeding may occur in a small percentage of patients with extreme thrombocytosis. Erythromelalgia (burning pain in hands and feet, with warmth, erythema, and sometimes digital ischemia with ulcers may occur. Transient ischemic attacks cause neurologic deficits depending upon which part of the brain is affected. The spleen may be palpable, but significant splenomegaly is unusual. Significant splenomegaly should suggest another myeloproliferative neoplasm or a cause for spleen enlargement that is not directly related to the platelet count elevation. 