myeloproliferative disorder
Meaning of myeloproliferative disorder: These conditions are grouped by overproduction of blood cells, setting them apart from disorders in which the marrow instead fails to produce enough.
Definition of myeloproliferative disorder
A myeloproliferative disorder, now more formally classified as a myeloproliferative neoplasm, is one of a group of blood cancers in which the bone marrow produces too many of one or more types of blood cell. The condition arises from a clonal abnormality within a blood forming stem cell, meaning the overproduction traces back to a single abnormal cell that multiplies and gives rise to the excess cells found in the blood.
This group includes chronic myelogenous leukemia, polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and primary myelofibrosis, conditions that differ in which cell type is overproduced and in how the disease tends to progress, though most myeloproliferative disorders develop and worsen gradually over time.
Myeloproliferative disorders are distinguished from myelodysplastic syndromes, a separate group of bone marrow conditions in which blood cells are produced abnormally and in reduced numbers rather than in excess, despite the similarity of the two names.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Bone marrow testing confirmed a myeloproliferative disorder after routine blood work showed an elevated platelet count.
Good to know
Myeloproliferative disorder and myelodysplastic syndrome are easily confused by name, but the two describe nearly opposite processes, excess blood cell production in one and deficient, abnormal production in the other.
Word origin
Where “myeloproliferative disorder” comes from
Formed from Greek myelos, meaning marrow, and Latin proliferare, meaning to multiply or reproduce, from proles, meaning offspring, and ferre, meaning to bear.