17: Patient-Doctor Duo: The Basics of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

<div>Myeloproliferative neoplasms, or MPNs, are a type of blood cancer that is often not heard about, which is why it is important for patients to speak with their doctors to learn more.</div> <div> </div> <div>MPNS – essential thrombocythemia, myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera – begin with an abnormal change, or mutation, in a stem cell in the bone marrow, which leads to an overproduction of any combination of white cells, red cells and platelets.</div> <div> </div> <div>In this special edition of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we teamed up with our sister publication “<a href="https://www.onclive.com/podcasts">OncLive on Air</a>” to speak with a patient-doctor duo on the disease. Learn more from Dr. Ruben A. Mesa, director of the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson, and Antje Hjerpe, a patient diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia in 1992. The pair discuss myeloproliferative neoplasms – what they are, how they’re treated and how patients can talk to their doctors to be their own best advocates.</div>