Polycythemia vera (PV) is an acquired myeloproliferative disorder characterized by an elevated absolute red blood cell mass caused by uncontrolled red blood cell production, frequently associated with uncontrolled white blood cell and platelet production.

The presence of an aortic valve with two instead of the normal three cusps (flaps). Bicuspid aortic valvue is a malformation of a commissure (small space between the attachment of each cusp to the aortic wall) and the adjacent parts of the two corresponding cusps forming a raphe (the fused area of the two underdeveloped cusps turning into a malformed commissure between both cusps; the raphe is a fibrous ridge that extends from the commissure to the free edge of the two underdeveloped, conjoint cusps).