April 11, 2002
Hi All,
Just (finally!) got the test results back from Dave's biopsy in March. The results were negative (PCR-), or to quote the doctor "negative which means normal which means great." He's a man of few words!
What this means is that with the most sensitive test they run, there was nothing to be found. (I'll put the technical explanation below.) With the last test, run in October, there was still a trace of the disease. They didn't find anything this time, so the Gleevec has done its thing and eradicated any stray leukemic cells. Dave is now in what's called molecular remission. The doctor won't say cured, but it's as close as Dave will get.
It's been a long 2-1/2 years since that fateful day in October when Dave sat in the doctor's office and learned he had leukemia. This is a hard won victory, and we want to thank all of you who went through the ups and downs with us, and helped and supported us in so many ways. You'll never know just how much it all meant.
Dave will continue to take Gleevec -- his doctor wants him to take it for another year (1 year following a clean biopsy). We're scheduled to go back to Boston in September.
Hope this finds you all well! Happy Spring!!
Allison & Dave
Okay, here's the technical stuff. I'll include some of what I wrote last time to give you some background:
As you may remember from my last message (Oct. 01), there was no sign of the Philadelphia chromosomes (in the test results), meaning Dave is in cytogenic remission, but the PCR test came back positive, which means he's not completely free and clear yet. The PCR test looks for the protein created by the Ph chromosome (bcr-abl), not the Ph chrom itself. Are you confused yet (if not, read on!)?
When looking for the Ph chrom, a sample of about 200 cells is used -- and in Dave's test, none were found. The PCR test uses a sample of about a million cells. Because the sample size is so much larger, there's a greater chance that any protein (created by Ph chrom cells that weren't found in the smaller sample) will be picked up, giving a PCR+ result. This is a pretty sensitive test, so only a little of the protein needs to be present to be picked up, and only a few of the Ph chrom cells are needed to create the protein (which is why they can be missed in the first test).
(Got all that??)
With the test results we got today, the PCR test was negative -- no protein was found, which means no Philadelphia chromosome cells are lurking anywhere. Let me know if you have any questions!
Allison