blood 2

[Peter Wynn]

Thank you for the answer re constituents.Now please could you tell me the relative levels of red cells, white cells and platelets as shown in blood tests. My wife has CML(leukemia), which is being controlled by drugs, and we would like to be able to understand the implications of her {current} weekly blood test

[mayastar]

Per cu mm of blood, there should be 5 million red blood cells, 7,500 white bloods cells and 250,000 platelets. Hope this helps.

[moorby]

For CML the doctor will be trying to keep the white blood cells down to about 4. The drugs they use to do this (often hydroxyurea, occasionally interferon, rarely others) may suppress the platelets and red cells. So long as platelets are above 20 there are not usually bleeding problems. They would like the Haemoglobin level ( more useful than the red cell count ) to be above 10 g/dl. It is possible for CML to grumble on for months or years before it becomes more aggressive.