I had a pre chemo blood check ahead of cycle 5 of FCR (F and C at half dose) All results o,k except WBC 1.1 , ALC 0.22, ANC 0.17

[keepfit123]

Treatment was put off for a week. Any comments and advice please ?

Cheers,

keepfit 123

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

I'd say they want your neutrophils to recover before you have your next cycle as treatment can suppress them. You should also have been given advice on taking extra care to avoid infections and to stick to a neutropenic diet. The link below covers this very important topic.

cllsupport.healthunlocked.c...

[MsLockYourPosts Passed Volunteer]

From many posts from others on various lists I know that it is not unusual to postpone a round of treatment until some counts recover. I would agree that you should probably be on a neutropenic diet. Other than that, this does not seem out of the ordinary, but if you are concerned I would discuss it with your doctor.

Pat

[jangreen]

Hi I had to have injections to bring my blood levels up so that I could continue my chemo. I had them after every cycle. I too had to have chemo postpone for a week but I took to having a blood test about three to five days before chemo was due so that if necessay I could have more injections. Also had cycle 5 & 6 at 75%. Two yrs later no sign of cancer.Good luck.

[daisyruby1]

Hi....as AussieNeil posted...the next cycle of chemotherapy isn't normally considerered safe to administer until the ANC count is at least e.g. = / > 1.0....(the exact cut off value will vary between treament centres...the 1.0 value I quoted is used in Coffs Harbour NSW Australia as an example) in that further chemo would only suppress the neutrophil count for siginificantly longer & massively increase the risk of neutropaenic sepsis....an ANC level of 0.17 is simply too low for treatment & especially with a regime FCR as fludarabine is particularly myelosuppressive. ..I also support others advice of the need for vigilence re neutropaenic precautions during this phase & neutropaenic diet also & wonder...as with other posters, if an injection of Neulasta or G-CSF was considered during this phase to boost the neutrophil count? I hope that helps & my first post ever on this site so hopefully useful?....Best Wishes....Daisy Ruby