Both primary and secondary myelofibrosis are difficult to cure.
Currently, there are two types of treatment for myelofibrosis, one is to use drugs to control symptoms and slow down the progression of fibrosis. Currently, the drug of choice is rucotinib, which can improve the patient’s symptoms, reduce the size of the spleen to a certain extent and stop the progression of myelofibrosis, and the use of prednisone and danazol, which can help promote hematopoiesis. The other option is allogeneic bone marrow HSCT, which may be able to completely cure myelofibrosis.
However, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is very risky, has a high failure and complication rate, and is physically demanding.
Prior to the transplant, the patient is treated with high-dose radiotherapy to completely kill his or her own bone marrow stem cells, exposing him or her to severe anemia, bleeding, and infection. Graft-versus-host disease, an immune attack by allogeneic lymphocytes on host tissue cells, can occur after stem cell transplantation is complete. In severe cases, this can lead to death.