I had some unexpected, but not unwelcome news in a letter from my hospital the other day. My last 5 PCR results were: - 4/14: 0.13% - 8/14: 0.07% - 11/14: .06% - 2/15: .03% - 5/15: .02% These are raw results from Barts lab, but on 2/15 an IS corrected result from HHS was .02%. I was pretty happy with those results, a nice downwards trend and I was hoping for a 0.00x% on my most recent result to get me into MR4 territory. I was pretty surprised when my most recent test results came back and the result said "BCR-ABL ratio undetectable". Now, before I get carried away with this I will want to see the next result (and the one after that) to say the same thing. But I'm still confused ... my understanding was that a PCR test can spot 1 in 100,000 cells - so what exactly does "undetectable" mean? Surely within 3 months of a 0.02% result I cannot have a genuinely undetectable level of CML. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks, David.
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Good news, but I'm a bit confused!
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Hi David,
was the undetectable result from HH or Barts? If HH then there pcr methodology is pretty much detecting bcr-abl down at the 5 log level if not lower. It is true that pcr tests can detect 1 cell in 100,000 but more often- with blood samples taken - they get around 10,000 cells.
It may be that your test are suddenly showing a dramatic decrease because you have been responding for some time but are only now seeing the benefits of the actual drop in bcr-abl. Pretty exciting stuff for you! Fingers crossed you will remain undetectable.
sandy
Hi Sandy,
The result was from the Barts lab, so I tend to be wary until I see a correlation between them and the Hammersmith lab which for me is done much less frequently but I think I will ask for that to be done at my next visit.
I'll ask at my next clinic in November about more detail of the test, how many sensitive it was ... how long between the blood being drawn and the test ran etc.
I'm naturally a pessimist in these kind of things. "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!"
David.