Please have a look on the blood report of a diabetic patient and explain.

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

I have read the attached report of your brother (attachment removed to protect patient identity). The main abnormal findings in the CBC (complete blood count) report are elevated red blood cells and PCV (packed cell volume). The hemoglobin level is also raised slightly. So, it is suggestive of polycythemia. It can be secondary, which is more common, or primary. The primary type includes bone marrow problems your brother has been instructed to investigate with a JAK2 study. It will help in ruling out primary polycythemia. The secondary cause includes respiratory disease, cardiac disease, chronic smoking, dehydration, etc. So, if any of such history or smoking history is present, kindly mention it to guide you further. I suggest you drink lots of water, at least two to three liters daily. He needs to stop smoking if he has a habit of it.

Additionally, I suggest you investigate with chest X-ray, EKG (electrocardiogram), and serum erythropoietin estimation for further workup. Kindly revert with reports once done, including JAK2. He must repeat CBC after 15 days to check red blood cells and PCV values. Do not worry. Most such cases are secondary polycythemia. You can discuss all these with your treating hematologist. Additionally, I want to point you that your brother's diabetes is not controlled. He needs to be given a combination of two drugs, and his lifestyle needs to be changed to control sugar.

I hope this information will help you.

Thanks.

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

It is good that you are aware of the health of your brother. I have checked the attached reports. Both reports are within range. Polycythemia means increased red blood cell production and so hemoglobin as well, along with high PCV. It is divided into two types.

1. Primary polycythemia, which is a blood cancer. It is a myeloproliferative neoplasm. In most cases, JAK2 comes positive if primary polycythemia is present.

2. The secondary polycythemia is due to respiratory and cardiac causes, smoking, and dehydration.

So in your brother's case, JAK2 is negative. Hence blood cancer seems very unlikely. It can be some form of secondary polycythemia. Do not worry about that. However, it is advisable to investigate with chest X-ray to exclude respiratory cause and EKG (electrocardiogram) to exclude cardiac cause. Advise him to drink 12 cups of water per day. He needs to repeat his CBC (complete blood count) after 30 days to check his red blood cell count, PCV (packed cell volume), and hemoglobin level.

I hope this information will help.

Thanks.