Hi. I had a question about my pcr test I had for my 3 month check up. When I was first diagnosed I had a bone marrow test and it said I had 1 percent of cml cells in my bone and now my three month check up on my pcr test says it’s 5 percent in my blood my doctor didn’t say anything about it.
1 percent on bone biopsy vs 5 percent pcr test 3mon?
DOES mean that the cancer is progressing??
What’s the difference between bone biopsy and pcr test?
Thank you
Well, your questions can't really be answered unless you're sure which tests you're referring to.
Bone marrow tests are generally visual tests where the pathologist examines the samples and determines the health of the marrow and the percentage of cells with the Philadelphia chromosome (FISH test).
The BCR/ABL PCR test is generally done on the peripheral blood and gives a ratio of abnormal genetic material versus normal.
To complicate things further, there are blood counts done on the various kinds of blood cells and they are often expressed as percentages.
You should probably go back to your doctor or call them and have it explained to you.
Kirk
Thank you I don’t understand anything right now but I’ll ask again when I see him. I just remember saying that I had 1 percent in my bone biopsy of when I am in the chronic phase to the accelerated phase. And I just got back my test results from my pcr test saying I have less then 5 percent is that checking the same cells is it growing?
Trevor I suggest you go to the templates page on this site and download the two templates on the right hand column for early conversations with your treatment team and monitoring your blood results. That will help ensure you 1, get all the useful information from them 2 understand the information they give you, and 3 can relay it to the folks on here so we can help you understand.
We all know it is very difficult at first, and there is huge amount to take in. Good luck and keep in touch.
If your PCR test result is less than five percent at three months, then that is usually a sign of good response to your medication and that you're headed in the right direction. When I began treatment my PCR level was 119% and after three months it was 3.6%. What medication do you take, and what is the dosage?
