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Rising PCR test

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Hi All, ive been on gleevec since 2005 and everything has been fine. Undetected for a number of years. My last test in February was 0.0014% on International scale. My latest is now 0.0026%. Is that anything to worry about? Thank you

Hi rsgiles
Have you changed something in your diet? Do you take samplaments that you shouldn t take?

I don’t think anything has really changed, might drink too much iced tea

We do go to the gym at work 3 times a week. I don’t take my pill with water though sometimes iced tea or other juice

Other juice? Anything except grapefruit right? Large amount of pomegranate juice is forbidden too!

No I don’t drink either of those.

Absolutely no significance.  It's 26 out of 1000 vs 14 out of 1000.  And those are percents of one.  Miniscule!  Nowhere near a log difference (a loss of one of those zeros - decimal places).

Thanks for your replies I’m just worried because it was always undetected.

Sorry - missed the part about previously "always" being undetected.  That changes things a bit, possibly.  How long were you undetected?  Are you currently taking a TKI?  Did your lab recently change the sensitivity of its testing limits?

Good call Kat - I've seen a number of these type of posts over the years when a lab has a new more sensitive test system and results appear to be increasing, but it is just the shiny new kit showing off how good it is. Worth checking if the results are on the IS scale - the lab should have a conversion factor to make it comparable with results from other labs.  But overall this change is nothing to worry about. If it trends up on both the next two tests I might start to think something was going on.

I am still taking gleevec and I don’t think the test changed. The only thing I did notice was that it only had the number for the international scale and that was 0.0026%. The test before this had two numbers, the IS on that one was 0.0014. It wasn’t always undetected, I get tested every 6 months and a couple of times it came back detected but then went back to undetected. Sorry for the confusion it’s just a lot to deal with. Thanks for your help.

I think you're probably all right.  (One thing you can count on is that there is no significant difference between the 14 and the 26.)  The worry comes in as to trend, but probably what is going on is that you are in the sphere of undetected - sort of at the upper edge of undetected and sometimes touching in the DMR (double zero) zone.  I know how it must feel to hover slightly up and down in that area, but keep reminding yourself that MR4 is "as good as" PCRU in the grand scheme of things.

Ok thank you so much. My doctor that I’ve had from the beginning in 1998 retired.  I still speak to him and take him out fishing once in a while and it has been years since he retired. He keeps telling me that it’s nothing and not to worry about it this is happened before but it is hard to do that. Thank you again for your time.