Hi Steve, I have a question out of curiosity. Did Vanessa take daily Interferon injections or once a week injections? Interferon is delivered as an injection so I was just curious.
Trey has given you lots of information on testing. I am also curious to why another bone marrow biopsy is being done one month after the first one? Did Vanessa have a bone marrow biopsy at diagnosis? Usually, that would involve cytogenetics testing where they look at 20 marrow cells and see how many has the Philadelphia chromosome, which is the cancer marker of CML. If 20/20 marrow cells have the cancer marker, which is normal, Vanessa would be 100%Ph+. Then with Gleevec therapy, this cancer marker should go down but usually CML experts order another bone marrow biopsy at the 6 month mark of Gleevec. So, I am still a bit curious why a biopsy is being done every month. Was a biopsy done at diagnosis or was blood taken to detect the Ph chromosome? Then she would be detected by either the FISH test or the PCR test. PCR test is the most sensitive test and can detect 1 CML cell in 1 million normal cells. This test is usually done after the marrow 20 cell test shows negative for the Ph chromosome. When the latter happens, it is called complete cytogenetic remission.(CCR) When the PCR shows a 1000-fold reduction from diagnosis value, this is called 3-log reduction or major molecular remission (MMR) and it is good to reach this milestone as then the risk of relapse is low. Vanessa has to first reach CCR and then MMR. PCRU means PCR undetectable for the CML marker. This is also called complete molecular remission (CMR). PCRU is reached more often on higher Gleevec doses and the CML experts have found from studies that the faster the leukemic load is brought down the better for durable remissions so it is quite all right for the doctor to prescribe 600mg Gleevec. Like Mike B says, make sure you are going to a CML specialist. PCR in layman terms is a percentage ratio of bad cells to total cells and it is a number that should go down with time and you track it every 3 months after Vanessa reaches negative on the 20 marrow cell test via a bone marrow biopsy. Do let us know whether Vanessa was taking daily injections of Interferon or once a week. Best Wishes, Anjana caregiver to Roy 400mg Gleevec Sep 2002, CCR --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to CMLHope@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
