nuetrophil

hi everyone just got 12 week results. still und. my neutrophil is 0.88  are they too low? hemoglobin is 11.2  platelets are 217.hamcrt 38 . am i doing  okay? been terribly fatigue.

[zazza]

Good to hear you are still UND. Your CBC counts look okay to me. The neutrophils can go down to 0.5, and some doctors even let them go down to 0.3. I don't know at which level your trial starts reducing the interferon due to low neutrophils. Maybe you could ask.

[jmjm530]

none of your values are abnormal in the context of treatment. as Zazza says many good doctors allow ANC to drop down to .3

But since you've brought it up, now might be a good time to discuss with your doctor what their policy is with low ANC or low hemoglobin, although your hemoglobin is pretty much up there. What you don't want to hear is that they will dose reduce. What you do want to hear is that they will use helper drugs, aggressively, instead of reducing the dose of your treatment drugs. I think it's a good idea to have this conversation in advance of the fact as opposed to just getting call out of the blue that says, stop this to reduce that.

[justme53]

My ANC's are down to.7 and they will let them go as low (in my case) to .4 before rescue drugs are used, so you're still holding in there. Jim and Zazza make a good point of finding out how low they will let them go and what their response will be. Freaks me out a bit being so low, but this is common with the interferon, they say. I need to report any fevers if they happen, but other than that, I'm to stay the course.

I sure could do with a few of your platelets! ;-D

Pam

[virgocharm]

how do you calculate ancs or nuetrophil? like 7 . i dont understand.

[zazza]

Justme's ANC is 0.7, if that is what you mean.

This is from Wikipedia:
"Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is a measure of the number of neutrophil granulocytes (...) present in the blood. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fights against infection.

The ANC is calculated from measurements of the total number of white blood cells (WBC), usually based on the combined percentage of mature neutrophils (...) and bands, which are immature neutrophils.

A normal ANC is above 1,500 cells per microliter. An ANC less than 500 cells/µL is defined as neutropenia and significantly increases the risk of infection. Neutropenia is the condition of a low ANC, and the most common condition where an ANC would be measured is in the setting of chemotherapy for cancer. Neutropenia increases the risk of infection.

ANC = (%neutrophils + %bands) x WBC

The unit of ANC is cells per microlitre (abbreviated µL; a microlitre is equal to one cubic millimetre) of blood."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_neutrophil_count

[zazza]

Like Jim said, your neutrophil count is OK, but better to be proactive and find out what your specific trial does if your count would fall lower yet. Neutrophils bounce up and down a bit as well, so a low count one week might be better again next week even if one does nothing.

[zazza]

"A normal ANC is above 1,500 cells per microliter. An ANC less than 500 cells/µL is defined as neutropenia and significantly increases the risk of infection."

Sorry, I see now that this quote just will confuse you. Your ANC is measured in the unit "10 to the ninth power per liter". So using that unit you could also write the above quote like this and it would mean the same thing:
"A normal ANC is above 1.5. An ANC less than 0.5 is defined as neutropenia and significantly increases the risk of infection."

The important thing for you to realize is that you have a bit to go even before you reach 0.5, so don't worry, be proactive.

[zazza]

Okay, I am learning as I go. Your unit is better described as "billions of cells per liter" blood.