Haematology

Consultation this morning with a new doctor, Dr L. Platelets slightly raised, so the Hydrocarbamide is increased from four to five days a week. The problem is that this may reduce the Neutrophils which at 1.59 10^9 g/L are already below the normal range of 2.2-6.3, having fdropped from 2.44 on October 17. Dr L will have another look at the blood in two weeks' time.

Dr L said that the genetic abnormality C-MPL W515 occurs in 5% of the MPD/MDS cases, of which there are 2,000 a year. So with only 100 cases a year, there aren't enough data to say anything useful about the prognosis in this subset of cases. He agreed that the life expectancy was 3.5 to 5 years for MPD/MDS cases as a whole, but was doubtful about the one year of normal existence suggested by Professor M on October 17. The answer is probably that the one year wasn't based on any published statistics.