Blood results in CBC

[gustave]

Hi All,

I wrote two months ago that my blood work had returned to normal after two abnormal and a tentative dx of CLL. Well, this month it is abnormal again. I am so confused. The receptionist said they never diagnose until at least six months of blood results.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

What specifically is abnormal? If you have a high lymphocyte count again, then you may have an infection or possibly the precursor to CLL, namely Monoclonal B-cell Lymphocytosis (MBL). Most often it's an infection causing this increased lymphocyte count, hence the 6 months wait, so people aren't unnecessarily scared about possibly having a blood cancer.

If your lymphocyte count doesn't settle down and no other cause can be found, then an immunophenotype flow cytometry test will determine whether your higher than normal lymphocyte count is due to a population of monoclonal cells and if so. which type. If that test shows you have MBL, then you probably have Low-count MBL, which can be detected in ∼5% of adults over the age of 40 years. The incidence of MBL increases with age. Even high count MBL only progresses to CLL at a rate of 1 to 2% per year.

So it's likely good news!

Neil