What WBC indicates leukemia
MIchelle
routine CBC
test. After the test, the doctor's office called to say I had a high
white blood cell count and they were going to re-do the test at my
next visit. Well, my next visit was yesterday and I just found out
today that the count is still high (13,300). The doctor said it
sometimes gets elevated during pregnancy and said not to worry about
Leukemia or anything like that -- well, I wasn't worried until she
mentioned that word, hell I didn't even know anything about it!
I was just wondering if anyone had ever heard of this during
pregnancy?
Also, what WBC count is typically indicates leukemia and are there any
other
diagnosing factors in the blood work or is an elevated WBC alone
enough to
indicate leukemia? If aanyone has any experience or thoughts on this,
I'd love some input!
Thanks!
Michelle
Stanbro
count) is often seen in pregnancy and is not a cause for worry unless there
are symptoms of infection or abnormal-seeming leukocytes. The changes can
persist for quite a while. It may be a normal protective adaptation to
prepare the body for the danger of infection during childbirth (formerly a
major cause of maternal death). Mild-to-moderate leukocytosis is between
10,000 and 17,000. I couldn't find many publications about it, since
presumably it is not unsual so no one writes articles about it, but here are
a couple of abstracts that mention it:
J Pak Med Assoc. 1992 Apr;42(4):86-7.
Platelets and leucocyte counts in pregnancy.
Karim SA, Khurshid M, Rizvi JH, Jafarey SN, Rizwana I.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aga Khan University Hospital,
Karachi.
A study involving the obstetric clinic population of 3 major teaching
hospitals of Karachi has been conducted to define changes in leucocyte and
platelet counts as pregnancy progresses. 573 "normal" pregnant women--183 in
the first trimester, 195 in the second trimester and 194 in the third
trimester were included in this analysis. We have found leucocytosis to be a
feature of normal pregnancy; the change is subsequent to a progressive
increase in granulocytes. Platelet counts were found to decrease slightly as
pregnancy progresses.
PMID: 1597923
---------------------------
Rinsho Byori. 1992 Dec;40(12):1292-6.
[Changes of differential leukocyte counts during pregnancy and in the
postpartum period]
[Article in Japanese]
Nasu M, Fujiyasu S, Iwatani Y, Amino N, Tanizawa O, Miyai K.
Osaka Kessei Research Laboratories.
We examined differential leukocyte counts in peripheral blood from 177
pregnant and postpartum women with an automated leukocyte differential
system, and compared them with those of 52 nonpregnant and non-postpartum
women. The proportions and numbers of neutrophils and monocytes increased
throughout pregnancy, returned to the non-pregnant levels within one month
after delivery, and decreased transiently at 4 or 7 to 10 months postpartum.
The proportions and numbers of lymphocytes and eosinophils decreased
throughout pregnancy, and increased transiently at 4 to 10 months postpartum
and one month postpartum, respectively. The proportion and number of
basophils decreased during pregnancy and one month postpartum, and those of
large unstained cells (LUC) decreased in the third trimester of pregnancy,
and both returned to the non-pregnant levels at 4 months postpartum and
within one month postpartum, respectively. These data indicate that
differential leukocyte counts change dynamically during pregnancy and after
delivery until 1 year postpartum.
PMID: 1307634
-----------------------------
Am J Reprod Immunol. 2002 Aug;48(2):110-6. Related Articles, Links
Physiological leukocytosis during pregnancy is associated with changes in
glucose transporter expression of maternal peripheral blood granulocytes and
monocytes.
Korgun ET, Demir R, Sedlmayr P, Desoye G, Arikan G, Puerstner P, Haeusler M,
Dohr G, Skofitsch G, Hahn T.
PROBLEM: The scarce data on glucose transporter expression of leukocytes are
contradictory and nothing is known about changes accompanying physiological
leukocytosis during pregnancy, which imposes acute metabolic demands on the
cells. METHOD OF STUDY: Cytospin preparations of intravascular leukocytes
were searched immunocytochemically for the high affinity glucose
transporters GLUT1, 3 and 4. Pregnancy-associated quantitative changes in
transporter expression were assessed by flow cytometry. RESULTS:
Granulocytes and monocytes stained for GLUT1, 3 and 4. Major changes in cell
surface transporter expression during pregnancy were a 36% (P < 0.05)
down-regulation of granulocyte GLUT1 at term, and an increase in monocyte
GLUT3 levels to 137% (P < 0.05), paralleled by a 24% (P < 0.05) decrease in
GLUT4 content in second trimester. Apart from a minor subpopulation,
lymphocytes were negative for these carriers. CONCLUSION: GLUT1, 3 and 4 are
abundantly expressed in granulocytes and monocytes. The particular isoforms
are differentially regulated during pregnancy, suggesting an individual
functional significance.
PMID: 12389600
------------------------
In leukemia, there is often "hyperleukocytosis"--100,000 or more. There are
lots of kinds of leukemia, so it is hard to give an average value. Chronic
lymphocytic leukemia, for example, typically has counts of 15,000 to
200,000. The counts can get so high that the blood actually looks
whitish--hence the name (leuko= white; -emia = blood in Greek).
I'm sure your doctor was just trying to be reassuring in case you, like many
people, somehow had the idea that a high white count had to mean either
infection or leukemia. Presumably she will keep an eye on it, but if she
thinks it is just normal, physiological, leukocytosis in late pregnancy, it
probably is. Try not to worry and enjoy the last weeks before the new
arrival comes and keeps you up all night!
Best of luck for a safe and happy delivery, and a healthy child,
Helen S
"MIchelle" <svetl...@patmedia.net> wrote in message
news:55699f24.03071...@posting.google.com...
Howard Homler
wrote:
Michelle, Easy girl!! An elevated total white count of 13K isn't
such a big deal... Your doctor is just being thorough to make sure
that you're okay. The white count goes up when your system is
stressed, and blood counts do vary with pregnancy. It is important to
make sure that you don't have a urinary tract infection, for example,
even if you don't have symptoms... or an elevated blood pressure.
Leukemia is suggested not so much by the elevation in the blood count,
but by the type of white cells present--usually very immature forms
called "blasts". This shows up on what's called the white cell
differential, which is where the type of white cells that make up the
total count of 13.3K are described. One can have leukemia with a
high, low or normal white count. However, if you had anything
suggesting acute leukemia, your doctor would have had you come right
in for an examination. Don't let yourself add to your stress by
mis-interpreting words that were supposed to be reassuring from the
doctor... H2