essential thrombocythemia
Meaning of essential thrombocythemia: Essential thrombocythemia is a bone marrow disorder that causes an elevated platelet count without a reactive cause such as infection or iron deficiency.
Definition of essential thrombocythemia
Essential thrombocythemia is a chronic condition in which the bone marrow produces too many platelets, the blood cells involved in clotting, without an identifiable reactive cause such as infection, inflammation, iron deficiency, or recent surgery. It belongs to a group of conditions called myeloproliferative neoplasms, in which the bone marrow overproduces one or more types of blood cells.
Many cases of essential thrombocythemia are associated with an acquired mutation in a gene such as JAK2, CALR, or MPL, which drives the bone marrow to produce platelets at an abnormal rate, though the condition is often discovered incidentally through routine blood testing before it causes any symptoms.
Because an excessive platelet count can promote abnormal blood clotting, and less commonly abnormal bleeding, essential thrombocythemia is generally monitored and, when indicated, treated with medication aimed at reducing platelet count or clotting risk, an approach guided by a person's individual risk factors rather than the platelet count alone.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Laboratory testing revealed a persistently elevated platelet count consistent with essential thrombocythemia.
Good to know
Essential thrombocythemia is distinguished from a reactive rise in platelet count caused by infection, inflammation, or iron deficiency, since those causes do not reflect an underlying bone marrow disorder.
Word origin
Where “essential thrombocythemia” comes from
Formed from Greek thrombos, meaning clot, and kytos, meaning cell, combined with -haima, meaning blood, describing an excess of clot forming blood cells.