Myelofibrosis: best practices, controversies and 2019 update

Introduction: Recent advances in the prognostic scheme and treatment of primary and secondary myelofibrosis (MF) have resulted in an overwhelming amount of clinical information to assimilate. The authors believe a comprehensive review that summarizes the most recent published literature, could serve as guidelines for the practicing hematologist.Areas covered: The authors provide a summary of landmark articles regarding epidemiology, symptoms, and pathogenesis of disease. The authors conducted a systematic literature review to answer questions regarding differences between primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and secondary myelofibrosis (SMF), appropriate use and selection of the current risk-stratification models, early versus late treatment of MF and current practices in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for MF. The authors conclude the article with their clinical opinion based on their experience and literature review. The purpose of this article is to identify current practices, address any variation, identify and investigate conflicting results and produce statements to guide decision-making.Expert opinion: In this section, the authors advocate for and provide examples of a standardized way of incorporating future discoveries in the pathogenesis and risk-stratification models of MF. They also discuss the importance of using only one risk-stratification model for PMF and one for SMF and their reasoning for early instead of late treatment of MF.