Optimal Therapy for Polycythemia Vera and Essential Thrombocythemia: A Different Perspective

Recent publications have de-emphasized the importance of recombinant interferon alpha (rIFNα) for the treatment of polycythemia vera (PV) or essential thrombocythemia (ET), favoring the use of phlebotomy and/or hydroxyurea. Here we express our reasons for the use of rIFNα early in the course of PV or ET in the absence of a phase 3 trial.