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Question regarding results

Hello All,

Merry Xmas and hope you are all prepping for a good new year!

I have a question regarding BCR/ABL Results. I had what appears to be a bit of an increase in my last results in the ratio (0%). I guess I see .009 as a concern simply because one more figure would give me a "log increase" is this correct? I wondered those of you have been on imatinib for a few years have had up and down flucuations and if so how widely varied? I never seem to be able to stay at totally zero (undectectable). have others found this the same? At what size increase should I be concerned?

Also I never quite understood how important in these readings are the BCR/ABL numbers in relation to the ABL Control figures? In my chart below it has ranged between 0 to 4 and on this occassion even though my % ratio is higher the BCR-ABL transctipts are 3? What does the ABL control mean and do they figure into reading any of the results?

Thanks for your time sorry for the technical question. If you scroll down a bit you can see the figures (I tried to put them in a table but they dont seem to come out as such and where the figures are for example ABL CONTROL=9.09x104 they are actually 10 to the power of 4. I used the Superscript option but it didnt come out. It might be down to my browser?) thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from you. Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date =03/09

BCR-ABL=0

ABL CONTROL=5.51x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.000

 

Date =06/09

BCR-ABL=3

ABL CONTROL=9.09x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.003

 

Date =8/09

BCR-ABL=2

ABL CONTROL=1.08x105

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.002

 

Date =12/09

BCR-ABL=4

ABL CONTROL=6.61x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.006

 

Date =03/10

BCR-ABL=0

ABL CONTROL=5.61x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.000

 

Date =06/10

BCR-ABL=3

ABL CONTROL=5.55x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.005

 

Date =09/10

BCR-ABL=1

ABL CONTROL=3.43x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.003

 

Date =12/10

BCR-ABL=3

ABL CONTROL=3.51x104

BCR-ABL/ABL Ratio (%)=0.009

Hi Bill,

You are doing simply fantastic. As good as it gets.

The reason that you bounce in and out of PCRU (0.000) is due to the sensitivity of the PCR test that is being done at your facility. If your lab was 10 times more sensitive than it is now, you would start seeing results like 0.0008, 0.0003, etc. instead of 0.000.

Just remember that in order to establish a trend (up or down) you need to look at 3 consecutive results.

I would not start worrying until I saw a ful log increase and it was maintained.

Zavie

Hi Zavie, hope you had a great new years eve! Thanks for the response put my mind at rest. Also it helped explain why some of the peoples readings on the forums have more decimal places. It is the sensitivity of the testing facility?

So is a log one or two places? i.e from .003 to .013 considered a full log? or would 0.130 be considered a full log? Also what does the control mean: if it is for example 1 x 10 (to the power of 4) and the next control is 1 x 10 (to the power of 5) and if there were 3 BCRABL found in both, would that mean on the later (power of 5) they had to look harder to find these 3? sorry again this probably does not make a huge amount of sense!

Happy New Year!

Bill