Is 11% blast cells in bone marrow aspiration cytology normal?

Question

Hello doctor,

Bone marrow aspiration cytology was done for my father, who is 77 years old, and the report shows the presence of 11 percent of blast cells (about two months ago). Kindly advise the following line of management. His ninth chemotherapy was completed three months ago. The laboratory report now shows that his Hb is 6.5 g/dL and his platelet count is 20,000. No chemotherapy was used after that, but six units of blood were transfused a week ago.

The remaining parameters are within normal limits. Awaiting your prompt response for the second opinion at your earliest convenience. What to do? Should we restart Azacytidine and continue treatment, or take only supportive measures to improve the quality of life? Laboratory tests showed severe anemia with thrombocytopenia due to AML-M2.

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

You have not achieved complete remission from chemotherapy. Usually, complete remission can be considered only when blast cells in bone marrow are less than 5% and platelet count is more than one lakh. So, you can go for combination chemotherapy to achieve that target. After you achieve remission, consolidation chemotherapy also can be given. No doubt, chemotherapy has its own side effects, but chemotherapy under observation can be given to achieve remission. Usually, the prognosis is good in AML M2. I suggest you consult a hemato-oncologist for your detailed examination and treatment.

I hope this helps.