Hi Tracey, Yes, this is an interesting point that I hadn't thought about until Richard's post. This is my take on it: Hydrea treatment will reduce the absolute leukemic tumor load so any discussions of total load reduction should take Hydrea into account. When discussing bcr- abl/abl reductions there will likely be no change in the ratio from Hydrea. So from this context, hematologic responses from Hydrea should probably not be used. So bottom line we really have two distinct ways to measure reductions: absolute (total tumor load) and relative (ratio of bad to good). Most discussions focus on the latter (relative). But this thread serves as a reminder that when we switch gears and start to discuss reduction in overall tumor load that reductions from Hydrea also must be taken into account. It would also be interesting to see if PCRs are unchanged during Hydrea treatment. After thinking about it more, I assume that they are not changed but it would be nice to see real data. I should also mention that this is all speculation on my part and that I would love to hear what others think about it. Well I'm off to ASH. Cheers to all, Mark --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "traceyincanada" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Mark, > > Thanks for taking the time to share with us your notes on ASH. You > bring up an interesting point that I've also thought of often. > > Like you, I took Hydrea for a month before starting Gleevec and in > that month, my WBC normalized. I really wish someone would have > thought to do a PCR on diagnosis so that I could have a more > accurate target of what I've achived but I guess I can't cry over > spilt milk. > > In any case, what I find confounding is that while we would assume > that plenty of phillies are being killed during Hydrea treatment, it > is also known that good cells are also being eliminated with Hydrea > so how could we know in what proportion are the good and the bad > being targeted? Therefore, without an official PCR number, I don't > know if we can assume any type of log reduction with Hydrea alone. > > Here's another thought that occured to me: for someone who started > out with a very heavy leukemic load and achived the famous 3 log > reduction, we know this fairs well. Now how about the person who > started out with a very small leukemic load (because their disease > was caught so early) and only achived a 1 or 2 log reduction from > baseline. The end leukemic load in the second person may infact be > smaller than the first yet the reduction wasn't as impressive so how > would that correspond with PFS stats? I'm just thinking out loud > here. There may be a simple answer that I haven't thought of or > there may not be an answer at all. > > In any case, thanks again for your time and please continue to share > with us as much as you can. > > Take care, > Tracey > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "mpetersen123" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > Hi Richard, > >> You also brought up an interesting point about the log reduction > due > > to simply gaining a hematalogic response. We tend to think along > the > > lines of IM-only therapy when discussing log reductions but many > > patients are initially treated with Hydrea. In my case for > example, > > I had a full log reduction hematologically just due to hydrea > alone. > > This implies that newly diagnosed patients should have their PCR > test > > performed at initial diagnosis rather than at initial treatment > for > > Gleevec. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/8zSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New! Sign up for local CML support group meetings in your local community at http://cml.meetup.com Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Support List) --------------------------------- Part Of CMLHope.Com An International Community Of CML Patients For more information: http://cmlhope.com Post Message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To No Mail/Web: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CML Group Web Site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
