Sorry if this is a silly question. When checking the bone marrow for ET what are they looking for? My daughter just had her first one in three years. I got the results last Friday and we were over the moon. We were told there is no bone marrow scarring, disease progression.
Is this all they look for?
Hi kentuckyrain, , , as you know they can keep a general eye on your daughters ET via blood tests and adjust meds if needs be. But the BMB will provide a more in depth analysis and I think is used mainly to determine if there is any sign of disease progression, specifically transition to Myelofibrosis. The fact that there is no scarring is an excellent sign that it hasn't. , . Long may it continue. I'm unsure if there is anything else.
Cheers Chris
Hi, thats good, when i had mine they were looking for markers that may indicate leukaemia, but this was before i was diagnosed so imagine just looking at scarring etc. You can have some scarring even with ET and PV, it doesnt always mean you are progressing to MF though. I have some but only a small amount.
The fact there is none is great though 
Hi kentuckyrain - that's great news..! I think they also use the BMB to look for abnormal cells such as large megakaryocytes (sp?!) , which help to confirm the diagnosis of ET, especially if blood tests have not shown up a genetic mutation such as JAK2 or CALR.
Best wishes
Andy
Ditto Andy
Hi, good news that there is no progression, I have asked Prof Harrison for you and she said that: Yes pretty much we look for evidence of MF but also of AML.
hope this helps, Maz
brilliant, thanks Maz, your great! Feel like a weight has been lifted with the results. Gives us another couple of years to breath easy!
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