Relief of intractable pruritus in polycythemia vera with recombinant interferon alfa

✍ Scribed by Dr. Carlo Finelli; Luigi Gugliotta; Barbara Gamberi; Nicola Vianelli; Giuseppe Visani; Sante Tura

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 198 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0361-8609
• DOI: 10.1002/ajh.2830430419

✦ Synopsis

Following reports that recombinant interferon alfa (rlFNu), besides inducing clinical and hematologic remission in polycythemia Vera (PV), can also resolve intractable pruritus, we used rlFNu to treat 13 PV patients complaining of severe pruritus refractory to conventional treatment (venesection and/or cytostatics). rlFNa was administered intramuscularly three times a week at a dosage of 3.0 x lo6 U. Eight patients (61.5%) reported a 250% reduction of pruritus, which occurred within 2-8 weeks from the start of rlFNa treatment, leading to a substantial improvement in their quality of life. Three patients had to stop rlFNa within the first month of therapy because of unacceptable side effects. Thus rlFNa seems to be capable of providing considerable relief of otherwise intractable pruritus in a good proportion of PV patients.