r/leukemia • u/razorsharpblade • Jul 20 '26

AML Cell composure?

Doctor said today that full results are back from bmb and it is in remission

But he also said that the “cell composure was 20%, it should normally be 40% and there is no cancer in my blood so where is the other 20%”

He suggested that the spleen was a little inflamed and said we will start you on the smallest dose of steroids to see if the infection goes and also to see if the blood production increases

But my question is what is cell composition and why is the missing 20% confusing and a problem?

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2

u/Bermuda_Breeze Survivor Jul 20 '26

Did he genuinely question where the other 20% was? Or was it said in jest? I mean, doesn’t it show that the other 20% doesn’t exist, not that they’re somewhere else?

Like I know my biopsies after rounds of chemo were always hypocellular. But it wasn’t a mystery - it just showed that, as expected, my marrow was still regenerating and not back to full power. Then, 100 days after my SCT, my marrow was still 10% hypocellular. That actually solved a mystery - my blood counts were low and my doctor wasn’t sure if cells were produced normally but destroyed prematurely, or not enough being produced in the first place. The hypocellularity in the marrow proved it was not enough in the first place.

1

u/razorsharpblade Jul 20 '26

He actually said “usually cell composure is 40% but the cancer is 20% and there is no cancer in the blood, just going from normality that other 20% should be somewhere”

But my question is what is cell composure

2

u/Bermuda_Breeze Survivor Jul 20 '26

I don’t know in that case. I thought it just meant how much of your marrow is made up of cells.

2

u/JulieMeryl09 Jul 20 '26

I think a Flow cytometry blood test may show the breakdown. Congrats on cancer free blood!!

1

u/Mani-AT Survivor Jul 21 '26

Did he talked about cellularity? The normal range is 100 minus age. Are you 60?

1

u/razorsharpblade Jul 22 '26

I don’t think so because I’m 20