Case Presentation: -
A 65-year Arabic female was diagnosed with PV in 2010 and followed in our outpatient clinic. She is also known to have dyslipidemia, Atrial fibrillation, and hypertension. She did not have a history of thromboembolic events. So, according to her age (>60 years) and presence of multiple comorbidities, she was categorized as having high-risk PV. She was started on peginterferon alpha 135 mcg every 12 weeks and phlebotomy as needed to keep her hematocrit below 42%. Her hematological indices were controlled.
In 2019, she presented to the primary health center complaining of generalized body itching. She was started on antihistamine and steroids ointments for a long time, but unfortunately, her itching did not improve.
In 2022, she started on a low dose of ruxolitinib (5 mg daily) based on the emerging evidence regarding its efficacy in PV cases with refractory symptoms. As a result, she started to improve regarding her itching but did not resolve it completely. So, after three months, the dose of ruxolitinib was increased to 10 mg, and she started to experience dramatically improved with complete resolution of itching.
She was followed for a few months and did not report any side effects with good tolerance of ruxolitinib.