RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Simultaneous occurrence of multiple aetiologies of polycythaemia: renal cell carcinoma, sleep apnoea syndrome, and relative polycythaemia in a smoker with masked polycythaemia rubra vera
JF Journal of Clinical Pathology
JO J Clin Pathol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists
SP 561
OP 564
DO 10.1136/jcp.53.7.561
VO 53
IS 7
A1 Lee-Yung Shih
A1 Ming-Lun Wang
A1 Jen-Fen Fu
YR 2000
UL http://jcp.bmj.com/content/53/7/561.abstract
AB A 58 year old male heavy smoker presented with intracranial haemorrhage and erythrocytosis. Four aetiologies of polycythaemia—polycythaemia rubra vera (PRV), renal cell carcinoma, sleep apnoea syndrome, and relative polycythaemia—were found to be associated with the underlying causes of erythrocytosis. He did not fulfill the diagnostic criteria for PRV at initial presentation, but an erythropoietin independent erythroid progenitor assay identified the masked PRV, and the low post-phlebotomy erythropoietin concentration also suggested the likelihood of PRV evolution. This case demonstrates that a search for all the possible causes of erythrocytosis is warranted in patients who already have one aetiology of polycythaemia.