› Forums › General Melanoma Community › low lymphocyte counts while on interferon
- This topic has 3 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 12 years, 5 months ago by
ockelly.
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- November 15, 2011 at 3:29 am
I want to start by thanking everyone who has responded to my posts in the past. This community has been a tremendous resource to me and my husband as we've begun to deal with this awful disease. My husband, John, has now completed his first three weeks of high dose interferon with reasonably few complications. He's been exhausted, particularly at the beginning of the week, but otherwise, he's been okay. His neutrophil counts were low at the end of the first week and his dose was subsequently lowered by 30%.
I want to start by thanking everyone who has responded to my posts in the past. This community has been a tremendous resource to me and my husband as we've begun to deal with this awful disease. My husband, John, has now completed his first three weeks of high dose interferon with reasonably few complications. He's been exhausted, particularly at the beginning of the week, but otherwise, he's been okay. His neutrophil counts were low at the end of the first week and his dose was subsequently lowered by 30%. Now after three weeks, both his neutrophil and lymphocyte counts are low. I know that lymphocyte levels are correlated with success of ipilimumab, and that some tumors spontaneously regress due to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. Should we be worried about the low lymphocyte levels? Or, is this a sign that his lymphocytes are infiltrating surrounding tissues to kill off remaining tumor cells? Or, am I just reading too much into a single number?
We meet again with the doctor on Friday, but I want to make sure we're prepared with the right questions to ask. Thanks to all in advance!
Donna
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- November 16, 2011 at 3:05 am
Donna
My husband TJ is 9 week from completing his Interferon year. I am an RN and I have followed his labs very closely throughout. The low blood counts are a little misleading. Interferon causes blood cells (particularly white blood cells) to clump together… they get sticky and so the complete blood count numbers aren't always accurate. Yes the treatment does cause lower WBCs but probably not as low as you are seeing on paper. We watched his neutrophils the closest. On the lab results you'll see 'neutrophils abs' listed a few lines below neutrophils. This is the ANC (absolute neutrophil count) and the lower it is the more susceptible your husband would be to getting an infection.
Our oncologists rule of thumb was if the ANC went below .6 (sometimes referred to as 600) then we would have to lower his dose. He got to .6 a few times but never below so he never had a dose change. HIs ANC has stayed low all year. Most of the time it is 1.0 but he didn't catch any bugs. He did have one serious infection over the summer. He had pulled a muscle in his groin. It became swollen and he also had a low grade fever. We didn't think much of the fever and still gave his Interferon that night. The next morning he had a high fever and huge cellulitis from his groin to his knee. He ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 3 days. I mention this only to let you know that what would be a minor infection for someone else can get out of control during treatment… after all we're boosting their immune response right. Be sure to be in contact with your oncologist if your husband gets sick beyond side effects. They"ll probably have you hold a dose. We all got flu shots since TJ can't…
As far as the lymphocytes go, I've never heard concerns about having a low count. I remember our oncologist saying that the number of circulating lymphocytes can appear lower when they are off fighting melanoma cells….
Good luck. One more week of daily infusions… Nice to have that behind you.
If you have any questions about the home injections let me know.
Kelly
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- November 16, 2011 at 3:05 am
Donna
My husband TJ is 9 week from completing his Interferon year. I am an RN and I have followed his labs very closely throughout. The low blood counts are a little misleading. Interferon causes blood cells (particularly white blood cells) to clump together… they get sticky and so the complete blood count numbers aren't always accurate. Yes the treatment does cause lower WBCs but probably not as low as you are seeing on paper. We watched his neutrophils the closest. On the lab results you'll see 'neutrophils abs' listed a few lines below neutrophils. This is the ANC (absolute neutrophil count) and the lower it is the more susceptible your husband would be to getting an infection.
Our oncologists rule of thumb was if the ANC went below .6 (sometimes referred to as 600) then we would have to lower his dose. He got to .6 a few times but never below so he never had a dose change. HIs ANC has stayed low all year. Most of the time it is 1.0 but he didn't catch any bugs. He did have one serious infection over the summer. He had pulled a muscle in his groin. It became swollen and he also had a low grade fever. We didn't think much of the fever and still gave his Interferon that night. The next morning he had a high fever and huge cellulitis from his groin to his knee. He ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 3 days. I mention this only to let you know that what would be a minor infection for someone else can get out of control during treatment… after all we're boosting their immune response right. Be sure to be in contact with your oncologist if your husband gets sick beyond side effects. They"ll probably have you hold a dose. We all got flu shots since TJ can't…
As far as the lymphocytes go, I've never heard concerns about having a low count. I remember our oncologist saying that the number of circulating lymphocytes can appear lower when they are off fighting melanoma cells….
Good luck. One more week of daily infusions… Nice to have that behind you.
If you have any questions about the home injections let me know.
Kelly
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- November 16, 2011 at 3:05 am
Donna
My husband TJ is 9 week from completing his Interferon year. I am an RN and I have followed his labs very closely throughout. The low blood counts are a little misleading. Interferon causes blood cells (particularly white blood cells) to clump together… they get sticky and so the complete blood count numbers aren't always accurate. Yes the treatment does cause lower WBCs but probably not as low as you are seeing on paper. We watched his neutrophils the closest. On the lab results you'll see 'neutrophils abs' listed a few lines below neutrophils. This is the ANC (absolute neutrophil count) and the lower it is the more susceptible your husband would be to getting an infection.
Our oncologists rule of thumb was if the ANC went below .6 (sometimes referred to as 600) then we would have to lower his dose. He got to .6 a few times but never below so he never had a dose change. HIs ANC has stayed low all year. Most of the time it is 1.0 but he didn't catch any bugs. He did have one serious infection over the summer. He had pulled a muscle in his groin. It became swollen and he also had a low grade fever. We didn't think much of the fever and still gave his Interferon that night. The next morning he had a high fever and huge cellulitis from his groin to his knee. He ended up in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 3 days. I mention this only to let you know that what would be a minor infection for someone else can get out of control during treatment… after all we're boosting their immune response right. Be sure to be in contact with your oncologist if your husband gets sick beyond side effects. They"ll probably have you hold a dose. We all got flu shots since TJ can't…
As far as the lymphocytes go, I've never heard concerns about having a low count. I remember our oncologist saying that the number of circulating lymphocytes can appear lower when they are off fighting melanoma cells….
Good luck. One more week of daily infusions… Nice to have that behind you.
If you have any questions about the home injections let me know.
Kelly
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