I have a high white blood count. What could it be?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have a high white blood count, and there are no symptoms or complaints apart from the blood test reports. I got the same high white blood cell count when I tested two years back.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I can understand your concern. Your attached report (attachment removed to protect patient identity) is not of the bone marrow. It is a flow cytometry report of peripheral blood. In the attached report, flow cytometry is positive for the B cell marker and suggests chronic lymphocytic leukemia type of blood cancer. I am sorry to hear that you have cancer. Kindly upload CBC (complete blood count) report and bone marrow aspiration report to guide you further. Sometimes in the initial stage of CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), no treatment is needed. Chemotherapy can be given when the patient is having symptoms like excess weight loss, fatigue, etc. If the disease progresses by excess count increase, I also want to tell you that CLL has the best survival rate, and patients live for many years with CLL. I hope I have answered your question. You can attach other bone marrow report and CBC to check it. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Best regards.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I have seen your attached reports (attachment removed to protect patient identity) and previous attached reports as well.

The following are my answers to your questions.

Noted in the attached reports, the following are the positive findings,

Very high WBC count.
In bone marrow aspiration, biopsy lymphocyte is present more than 80%.
In peripheral smear reports, absolute lymphocytosis and smear cells are present.
Flow cytometry shows monoclonality.
Splenomegaly and multiple enlarged nodes are present.

So, sorry to say, but all these findings suggest progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia - CLL type of blood cancer. It would help if you took regular chemotherapy as per your doctor's suggestion. In the attached prescription, the doctor wrote to start Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and Rituximab (FCR) chemotherapy, a good regimen for CLL treatment. Now, do not worry, be happy, and eat healthy foods. I suggest you take your chemotherapy under the monitoring of the Hemato-oncologist. I hope I have solved your doubt. Let me know if you have further questions in mind.

Best regards.