Benign familial polycythaemia in a young male

Polycythaemia has been reported rarely as a familial condition. There is evidence to suggest transmission as a Mendelian dominant trait, but recessive inheritance has also been described. We present here a case of benign familial polycythaemia in a 25-year-old male with similar presentation in his family members. Our patient presented with reddish discolouration of the eyes, early satiety , weight loss and itching at intervals, for four years. An additional examination revealed red beefy tongue and Grade III clubbing. The importance of presenting this case lies in the fact that the prognosis appears to be good in these patients, but regular observation is necessary as Kiladjian and colleagues have mentioned that there is a risk of leukaemia, thrombosis and myelofibrosis in these patients later on, as the idiopathic erythrocytosis group contains a certain number of polycythaemia patients.