Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN)

Our bodies normally produce billions of blood cells every day. This process occurs inside our bones, in the bone marrow, the spongy substance inside our bones. The bone marrow contains stem cells which grow and mature into all the blood cells that our bodies need: red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Each type of these types of cells has a specific job to do inside our bodies.

With a myeloproloferative disorder (MPD), excessive production of a cell’s precursor leads to an increased number of that type of mature cell and to a corresponding increase or decrease in the number of other blood cells, which may be inhibited and crowded out. These results in symptoms related to blood cell overproduction, shortages, and dysfunction throughout the body.

There are approximately 1,900 cases of MPNs diagnosed every year.

The three types of MPDs most frequently diagnosed are separate disorders which each affect blood cell levels in a different way. To learn more about the most frequently diagnosed types click on each of the names below.

• Essential thrombocythaemia (ET) 
• Polycythaemia vera (PV) 
• Myelofibrosis (MF)