[Treatment strategies for low-risk polycythemia vera]

Treatment selection for patients with polycythemia vera (PV) is based on patient age and history of thrombosis. The standard treatment is low-dose aspirin and phlebotomy for low-risk PV, with cytoreductive therapy added for high-risk PV. Thrombotic events and disease progression due to PV clone expansion affect the prognosis of PV. Although phlebotomy is effective in controlling hematocrit level, it has no effect on disease progression or PV-related symptoms. In Western countries, interferon (IFN) has been used as a cytoreductive therapy for PV. Long-term IFN therapy has been shown to result in sustained hematologic remission and molecular responses. Ropeginterferon-α-2b (ropeg-IFN), which is administered every two weeks, has recently become available. Clinical trials in patients with PV have shown that ropeg-IFN treatment is safe and efficacious, reducing JAK2V617F allele burden. Ropeg-IFN could ultimately affect long-term hematologic remission and molecular response in younger patients with low-risk PV, and may even offer a cure.