High RDW and slight Anisocytosis

[BurtJason]

Hi y’all. Been a while since I posted. Been feeling pretty good while on “wait & watch” since December of ‘22. My WBC was 21.8 then and my Abs Lymphocytes was 18. Now after more than 2 years, my WBC is 29 and my Abs Lymphocytes are 24.7. Again…..I feel good with no symptoms.

However, my RDW bumped into the “not normal range” of 15.6. Normal is 11.5-15.0. There was a note at the bottom of the blood test that says “Slight Anisocytosis”. This has me scratching my head. Anyone have experience with this?

Burt

[lankisterguy Administrator Volunteer]

Hi BurtJason,

The slightly high RDW and Anisocytosis are the same issue. As our bone marrow gets complicated by the presence of too many CLL cells, and our red blood cells start doing odd things.

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I would suggest it is like a "check engine" light on your car dashboard. It tells your doctor to look for other symptoms and test results to determine if it needs further actions. Often the doctors will wait for a future visit to see if the problem persists, but with CLL - wonky test results are our norm.

I've had odd shaped red blood cells for most of my 17 years with CLL, it never lead to any significant finding, but when I have fatigue with it, then the docs pay more attention.

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This list has 9 other times that Anisocytosis was mentioned in previous posts:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

and this has 66 past postings for RDW: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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Len

[BurtJason in reply to lankisterguy]

Thanks for your reply, Len. Very informative. I’ll be keeping a close eye on it the next several months. Still, I feel very good these days. No symptoms.

Burt