Guest guest Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 Hello everyone. I have a general question/concern about the frequency and type of testing that I am receiving. I was diagnosed in April 07 and started Gleevec at 400mg. I reached CHR within one month. The first FISH test (early May) read 77%. In late July, a FISH test from a BMB revealed 14/200 or 7% testing positive for BCR ABL signal with no sign of mutations. So my response to Gleevec is good. A third FISH test (by blood) was done at the end of October and the results were 2.5% testing positive for BCR ABL. I received the results on Nov. 7. I feel very comfortable talking to my oncologist, who is a CML expert, but I have a few concerns after my last visit about " next steps. " He would like me to get a CBC done bi-monthly and repeat the BMB in April. No testing from now until then other than the CBCs. No mention of PCR testing outside of the initial test at diagnosis. I believe the logic from his standpoint is that there is no need to do PCR testing until I reach FISH =0%. I guess I'm just a little concerned about a 5 month gap in testing, even though I am having a good response to Gleevec. It's obvious to me that my Dr. is pleased with my progress, but 5-6 months seems like a pretty big span within a year of dx. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Hi I reached CHR in a few weeks after gleevec and then CCR & PCRU within 60 days. I started Gleevec in 2001 diagnosed in 2000 with my first year of ARC and interferon prior to gleevec approval (but no real response from the first yrs treatment however, no progression either) My CBC's are still done monthly and my PCR by peripheral blood is done every 90 days with the exception of the bone marrow biopsy and aspiration done once a year now. The first few years I had the BMB/BMA done every 3 months as that was the protocol then. You're response so far is wonderful but the PCR does need to be done every 90 days and I am assuming that the first one was done with your initial biopsy? ez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 13, 2007 Report Share Posted December 13, 2007 , Thanks for responding and thanks for the encouragement. I know that a PCR was done at diagnosis. It hasn't been mentioned since. I did contact my oncologist requesting a 3-month pcr test/fish test and requesting log reduction #s. Hopefully, I will have better monitoring soon. Chris > > Hi > > I reached CHR in a few weeks after gleevec and then CCR & PCRU within 60 > days. I started Gleevec in 2001 diagnosed in 2000 with my first year of ARC > and interferon prior to gleevec approval (but no real response from the > first yrs treatment however, no progression either) > > My CBC's are still done monthly and my PCR by peripheral blood is done every > 90 days with the exception of the bone marrow biopsy and aspiration done > once a year now. > > The first few years I had the BMB/BMA done every 3 months as that was the > protocol then. > > You're response so far is wonderful but the PCR does need to be done every > 90 days and I am assuming that the first one was done with your initial > biopsy? > > > > > > ez > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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