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Full Blood Count and IG

I am sure that this is a beginner's question.

I am lucky to have received regular Full Blood Count reports since 2012. Until very recently, all of my reports showed BASO but not IG.

My reports during the last fortnight show BASO with no numbers, but show IG as a new entry. No banding is shown for IG, but the number at Imatinib Day minus one is 18.34 (24.6%) and Imatinib Day plus seven 6.92 (17.5%).

Could anyone, please, explain what these IG numbers mean and why BASO no longer shows as a number?

 

Hi, 

BASO (basophils) should not, in normal circumstances, show up in peripheral blood in any large amount. See this page for more details about normal ranges.

https://www.cmlsupport.org.uk/section/normal-blood-counts

Immature granulocytes (IG) should be present in bone marrow as they mature and get "promoted" to peripheral blood. One of the signs of CML, and other blood cancers, is the presence of these immature cells in peripheral blood - where they should not be as they are not ready. You end up with too many white blood cells that are not mature and can't do their job properly. Measuring them helps your clinician understand how your CML is responding to treatment and your progression to a complete haematological response (CHR).

David.

This was the answer that I could not Google satisfactorily. Thank you, David. 

Looking back through my blood history, the Basophil count was the first thing to go wildly wrong (even before the notable elevation in general white count). So at September 2017, the Basophils were twice the upper range and by February 2018 the were four times the upper range. 

I will ask the doctor tomorrow whether the IG number is one upon which I should focus moving forward. 

I now have some answers from the doctor. I am told that the automated instant FBC measurement machine typically fails to register BASO when the white blood count is high. The IG figure is of no direct interest for tracking. In fact, I am told that only four measures are of interest once CML is diagnosed: WBC, HGB, PLT and NEUT.

Today, after at Imatinib Day 22, all FBC figures are within the normal range. The BASO entry now registers with the WBC having returned to normal.

The historic raised BASO was probably indicative of CML but that is "hindsight": a physician would not have twigged at that stage based upon the raised BASO alone.

You do, however, need to also keep an eye on some of the numbers on your CMP (Complete Metabolic Panel) which should be done every time you have the CBC done.  Like:  creatinine, BUN and eGFR (all indicative of kidney function) and the liver enzyme ones AST and ALT.  Imatinib can raise your creatinine and decrease renal efficiency.

The doctor did mention this, Kat73, and you are quite right. I was commenting upon the Full Blood Count (FBC), but the doctor did mention that my Kidney function was slightly impaired. The blood ticket covers U & E Creatinine,  Liver Function, Bone and LDH in addition to FBC.