Home         Forums  

Go Back   Marrowforums > Bone Marrow Failure Diseases > MDS
Register FAQ Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

MDS Myelodysplastic syndromes

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
  #1  
Old Thu Sep 14, 2017, 05:51 PM
AliceKay1 AliceKay1 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Walnut Creek CA USA
Posts: 42
MDS and "blasts"

Can someone please tell me what are "blasts" and how do they relate to the numbers I see in the results of a blood test?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Thu Sep 14, 2017, 06:55 PM
Neil Cuadra Neil Cuadra is offline
Owner
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 2,553
AliceKay1,

Blasts are immature white blood cells that form in your bone marrow. When everything is normal, there's a small percentage of them present, less than 5% of your bone marrow cells at any given time. As the blasts mature, they enter your bloodstream as the various types of mature white blood cells.

When things aren't working correctly, blasts can fail to mature, and you end up with 5% or more blasts in your bone marrow. Some blasts can get into your bloodstream too. The more there are, the more serious the MDS is (generally speaking).

When you have a complete blood count (CBC) test, they check what's in your blood. If they see blasts, that's a sign that something is unusual. However, the diagnosis of the various types of MDS is based on a more important test: the bone marrow biopsy. That's where they measure the percentage of blasts in your bone marrow.

Your doctor can tell you what percentage of blasts were found in your bone marrow in the last bone marrow biopsy. It's worth knowing what the percentage is. If you have multiple bone marrow biopsy tests over time, you'll want to know if the percentage of blasts is increasing or decreasing.

You might this glossary handy, since it's specific to bone marrow diseases like MDS.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Forum sites may contain non-authoritative and unverified information.
Medical decisions should be made in consultation with qualified medical professionals.
Site contents exclusive of member posts Copyright © 2006-2020 Marrowforums.org