Neutrophils question

[Adante]

Please forgive my ignorance of this- it is all new to me. Looking over my blood work from recent visit I noticed that my neutrophils are 38. The visit before they were 33. My WBC went down from 18 to 12 and my lymphocytes went down from 12 to 7. But my liver enzymes are elevated and they fluctuate 30 points up and down from one blood test to another and they have been doing this for a decade before the CLL diagnosis. Is there a correlation between the liver enzymes and pCll and what exactly does the neutrophil numbers represent? Thank you so much for educating me on this!

[cllady01 Former Volunteer]

my.clevelandclinic.org/heal...

The article sited will tell you the story of the WBC.

What are the types of white blood cells?There are five types of white blood cells:

Neutrophils: Help protect your body from infections by killing bacteria, fungi and foreign debris.

Lymphocytes: Consist of T cells, natural killer cells and B cells to protect against viral infections and produce proteins to help you fight infection (antibodies).

Eosinophils: Identify and destroy parasites, cancer cells and assists basophils with your allergic response.

Basophils: Produce an allergic response like coughing, sneezing or a runny nose.

Monocytes: Defend against infection by cleaning up damaged cells.

[Adante in reply to cllady01]

Thank you for the article!

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Hi Adante,

Taking an interest in your blood tests can pay dividends. Dr Susan Leclair has produced excellent videos that I recommend you watch. In brief;

1) There is highly unlikely to be any correlation between the liver function tests and CLL related changes in your blood tests. Liver function tests reflect the general health of your liver. Drugs, supplements, even some foods can affect these test results.

2) Neutrophils are the first responders to any infection. Low counts put you at risk of serious infection.

3) There's a section on your blood test where all your white blood cell counts or percentages are reported. This section is called the Differential. At a minimum it reports the percentage of each white blood cell type. More usually, as in your case, it reports both the absolute count (abs or #) and percent (%). You are reporting your percentage of neutrophils and your absolute lymphocyte counts. Please ignore percentages and only look at absolute counts. When you have CLL, the raised number of lymphocytes and how much they change, plays havoc with the percentages. You look to be in the early stages of CLL with healthy neutrophil counts. If you report the absolute counts of both by date, we'll have a better idea. With CLL, it is trends that are important, so don't worry about about the occasional high result in lymphocytes. The exception is if your absolute neutrophil count drops below 1.5, then you need to pay close attention to reducing infection risks.

Dr Susan Leclair search returns:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Neil

[Adante in reply to AussieNeil]

Thank you so much for your thorough reply. I will check out the Leclair video as well as the article cllady suggested.

[SunCalifornia in reply to AussieNeil]

thank you for this info

[Vizilo]

Neutrophils are certainly a measure you should keep an eye on. I was on w & w for 6.5 years as my cll was very slow moving. Except (there is usually an except) my neutrophils were chronically very low (0.2-0.5) and my cll specialist had been concerned about the potential for serious infections. Three years ago his worries proved to be well-founded as I ended up in the hospital with septicaemia.

Because he was concerned with a repeat for a potentially repeat of that nasty infection, he advised me to start Acalabrutinib 18 months ago even though the usually triggers had not been met (no symptoms, no large lymph nodes, slow doubling time, etc.). He thought that Acalabrutinib would help move the neutrophil count up.

While the increase in neutrophils has not been “earth-shaking ” after a year and a half on Acalabrutinib, my neutrophil levels are now in the 1.0-1.5 range moving me from severe neutropenia to mild neutropenia. Hopefully, this gives me some protection against severe infection.

[Cgolen99]

Just an FYI, when I went on the medication Victoza for blood sugar stabilization, my neutrophils rose and have stayed there. My oncologists attributes this to this new medication. Not sure if anything else has changed with your meds etc, but that was a factor in my rising neutrophils.