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Yale Cancer Center Researchers Find Treatment for Rare Blood Cancer Saves Lives, but Is Underused
Clinical trials have pointed a way toward treatment of essential thrombocythemia (ET), a rare, incurable cancer caused by massive overproduction of blood platelets. But the use and benefit of the therapy, hydroxyurea (HU), which suppresses formation of blood cells, had never been studied in a “real world” setting. Researchers at Yale Cancer Center now report that HU significantly reduces risk of thrombotic events including venous thrombosis, strokes, and heart attacks and lowers death rates in patients who use it.