Outcome
Polycythemia vera is perhaps the most manageable of all myeloproliferative neoplasms with a 5-year survival rate of more than 80%. With appropriate treatment, a survival of about 14 years is expected, even for patients older than 60 years old. Younger patients are expected to live for more than 20 years.
The most troublesome fatal complications of polycythemia are its transformation to acute leukemia or blood clotting complications which can cause fatal heart attacks or pulmonary embolism.