I've been on 1,000mg/day of HU for 11 years. My oncologist is the top doctor at a tier one medical center. He recently learned of new research and the dangers of long-term use of HU at a conference and has told me to get off hydroxyurea. He learned that the cancer risk of decades of HU was 3 to 4 times greater than any possible stroke risk.
He backed me down to 500 mg/day for 3 months, then took me totally off HU last week. He said he's had patients with one million and 1.5 million platelet count having no issues whatsoever.
He says the data presented at the conference showed approximately 8 to 10% cancer risk for decades on HU. He said he personally has treated about 40 patients on HU and has had four of them develop cancer.
He says he doesn't really believe that there is that high of a risk of stroke with high platelet count, but absolutely believes in the cancer risk. I told him I'll be concerned about the stroke risk and he said there's no comparison between having a stroke and having cancer.
I am off hydroxyurea for good.