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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, High WBC, Have Palpable Nodes In Neck And Groin Area. What Is The Treatment?

I am in phase 1 of CLL. In the last 6 mos the WBC count has gone from 41K, 48K to 55K. There some palpable nodes showing in the neck and groin area. My oncologist has ordered a brain MRI because I mentioned recent sinus headaches: a CT neck, chest,abomen and pelvis scan. They also want another blood draw within a week of the last one see if the slope of the WBC count is increasing relative to the previous three samples taken over the last 6 mos. The objective is to determine whether or not the CLL is taking off then decide if treatment is necessary. Is all this diagnostic work needed at this stage? I had the impression that more of a watch and wait approach was taken until the WBC level reached about 80K.
Tue, 12 Nov 2013
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Oncologist,  's  Response
Hi,
CLL is a indolent disease, so it requires treatment only if the symptoms are troubling your daily activities. Just increasing counts is not suffice, but increasing counts can cause symptoms which needs treatment. Yes, you require regular monitoring of blood counts to see the doubling time of WBCs. There is no cut off range of WBCs count for starting treatment.
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Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, High WBC, Have Palpable Nodes In Neck And Groin Area. What Is The Treatment?

Hi, CLL is a indolent disease, so it requires treatment only if the symptoms are troubling your daily activities. Just increasing counts is not suffice, but increasing counts can cause symptoms which needs treatment. Yes, you require regular monitoring of blood counts to see the doubling time of WBCs. There is no cut off range of WBCs count for starting treatment.