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What Do Elevated Calcium Levels In Blood Indicate?
I was diagnosed with CML about 2 years ago. I have been on the drug Tasigna 150 tablets 4 aday for about 2 years. I take 2 capsules in morning and 2 at night. In my blood work which I got a ASAP call today from the dr office to come in and redo my lab work. My calcium levels were 11.5. They redid the blood work. Should I be concerned?
Tue, 26 Jun 2018
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
Please, do not worry. It is highly likely side effect of your medication (tasigna).
Hypercalcemia may be side effect of your medicine, or from chronic myeloid leukemia or it can be caused by other disorders (endocrine, immune system disorders).
Tasigna (nilotinib) is used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia. It may cause electrolyte imbalance including hypercalcemia. Patients taking tasigna should be periodically checked complete blood counts (CBC), blood chemistry and ECG.
Hypercalcemia is also seen in accelerated phase and blast phases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Therefore, doctors check blast cells in the blood which shows what phase the diseases is and to monitor CML. If blast cells less than 10%, no need to worry about accelerated phase and blast phases.
In your case of hypercalcemia, the root cause needs to be determined. You may be ordered parathyroid hormone, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and parathormone related peptide. Additional tests may ordered by your doctors depending on initial test results.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Thank you,
Malik Amonov MD
I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.
Please, do not worry. It is highly likely side effect of your medication (tasigna).
Hypercalcemia may be side effect of your medicine, or from chronic myeloid leukemia or it can be caused by other disorders (endocrine, immune system disorders).
Tasigna (nilotinib) is used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia. It may cause electrolyte imbalance including hypercalcemia. Patients taking tasigna should be periodically checked complete blood counts (CBC), blood chemistry and ECG.
Hypercalcemia is also seen in accelerated phase and blast phases of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Therefore, doctors check blast cells in the blood which shows what phase the diseases is and to monitor CML. If blast cells less than 10%, no need to worry about accelerated phase and blast phases.
In your case of hypercalcemia, the root cause needs to be determined. You may be ordered parathyroid hormone, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and parathormone related peptide. Additional tests may ordered by your doctors depending on initial test results.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Thank you,
Malik Amonov MD
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