[Neurologic manifestations of polycythemia vera. Analysis of 24 cases and review of the literature]. / Manifestaciones neurológicas de la policitemia vera. Análisis de 24 casos y revisión de la literatura.

ABSTRACT

Neurological symptoms (NS) of 33 patients diagnosed as suffering from polycythemia vera (PV) are described. 24 of them (73%) had NS at some point in their evolution, the most frequent being related to blood hyperviscosity (headache 51%, dizziness 36%, paresthesias 30%, sight alterations 21%). 5 patients had ictus (15%) and there were no bleeding symptoms in the nervous system. There were no significant differences (p greater than 0.05) in age, sex; hematocrit, platelet or volume of packed red cells, between patients with NS and those without NS. A complete remission of NS was obtained reducing the hematocrit, except in ictus patients. We did not find mortality, as a result of NS.