Polycythemia & Bone marrow Disorders screening

My last cbc results ,haematocrit 49,and hemoglobin 18.5
.do you remember your hemoglobin or white blood cells counts?

Yeah of course,one more thing,my ALT test for last 2 months 160 and i think max normal range is 40 !, I remember I asked my hematologist dr about it and he told me don’t worry about it,your liver normal no markers,maybe it’s because your high hemoglobin or you’re little fat ,just worry about your blood .does he right?

So you had these tests JAK2V617F,JAK2Exon12,
BCR ABL-MPL-CALR?which one was positive?
I don’t know the medical reason for what your dr said but I remember my Dr told me that if the tests I wrote up were negative he will put me to bone marrow test ,and I think maybe because one of these tests came positive so he doesn’t need to see the bone marrow,maybe he will need to see the bone marrow after you starts your treatment,so do you take aspirin? And What’s next ? What’s your next step?

Always within range. Still are while I’m on Jakafi

Hi! There can be some concern when the ALT results are higher than the norm. Sometimes it can indicate issues with the liver. But there can be a number of things that can influence the changes in the liver enzyme number that don’t mean liver damage.
The doctor will look for trends and use that number along with other results such as AST and LDH to determine a problem. As an example, recently my ALT was elevated. But my AST and LDH were ok. After a little sleuthing, it was determined the problem was caused by a popular multivitamin for women that I had started taking a couple months before my last blood tests. The Vitamin A wasn’t being metabolize as it should and became a bit toxic to my liver. I stopped the supplements and subsequent tests have shown my numbers are back to normal. So that’s how touchy livers can be but they can regenerate quickly as well.

Your doctor seems to be taking all of this very seriously for you and ordering the appropriate tests. So try to relax and let him ‘do his thing’. When the biopsy reports return he may be able piece all of this together and find a cause for the excess red blood cell production. I’m sure you have him scratching his head with this mystery. 😉

My ride was sick, so I had to reschedule until mid-March..ugh.

My oncologist said the same. If treatment will be exactly the same either way, no need to endure the bone marrow test and the COST of it.

@jewelfaux and @nypara66, You’re both correct. It is possible to determine if a patient has the JAK2 mutation without the need for a bone marrow biopsy. It’s done through blood work.

ET and PV are myeloproliferative diseases. This means there is a glitch somewhere that’s causing an overproduction of blood cells. The defective JAK2 gene can be one of several potential causes. A definitive diagnosis can determined with a bone marrow biopsy.
The bone marrow is the heart of the blood manufacturing site in the body. The results of that biopsy, a core sample of the marrow, gives the doctor an overall picture of the health of the marrow and its ability to provide healthy blood products.

I know, they’re no one’s favorite tests, but on occasion the biopsies are necessary. I’ve had 13 of them and didn’t mind the last 10. They were done under mild sedation and I woke up to juice and Lorna Doone cookies. 😉

Oh I’m sorry,so I'll do it either Tuesday, March 5 or Wednesday, March 6, and I'll tell you everything that happened during it.

lol 😂,yeah I guess he’s scratching his head,he wants to know the cause