Dear Neil,
Thanks for the reply , here in India for the aplastic anemia the treatment is ATG with cyclosporine, but in father's case the doctor says that it is risky for going with ATG as the ATG lower down the immunive system of body and there are chances of severe infection, so first they will try with cylosporine and if it fails then only they will go for ATG with cyclosporine.
As the last blood tranfusion was on 07.12.11 and normally the platlets life are 4 to 5 days only. so it seems that cyclosporine is working. However the response time id minimum 4 to 8 weeks for cyclopsorine. So let us pray for the best.
Again tommorrow a blood test will be done and I will send you the report.
The next appointment with the Haematlogist is on 17.01.12.
The last blood test was done on 07.12.11
Regards
Abhay
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neil Cuadra
Abhay,
It's good that you are tracking your father's blood counts and transfusion records.
Your father's HGB and WBC have fluctuated but are slightly higher than before he started cyclosporine. There was a significant platelet increase. But you can't tell if those changes were due to the cyclosporine or the transfusion on 07.12. You'll have to wait longer to see the longer-term trend.
Perhaps the cyclosporine is helping, but you can't be sure. So far it's not enough to bring his counts up to normal levels, but the doctor may consider them to be good enough for now. You might ask how low the doctor thinks your father's HGB and platelets can go before he should be given transfusions.
For the bigger picture you might also ask his doctor if there are other treatment choices and how to decide among them. In the U.S. they often use ATG in combination with cyclosporine, or try to boost blood counts with growth factors. I'm not familiar with the typical treatments in India. Remember that most Marrowforums users, including me, are caregivers or patients, not medical experts, and what we've learned comes from our own experiences.
By the way, the last blood counts you posted above say "27.11.12". Did you mean 27.12.11?
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