So, for CLL diagnosis, the diagnosis itself is done by a very sophisticated test, which thankfully can be done on blood. You don't need any special biopsies, bone marrow biopsy or anything else. The CLL cells float in the blood, so just a simple blood draw can lead to the diagnosis of CLL by the sophisticated test called flow cytometry. Flow cytometry identifies markers on these CLL cells, and when that specific pattern of markers matches the CLL diagnosis, the diagnosis is established. As far as ongoing tests for CLL patients, we typically see patients in our clinic every couple of months, every three to six months in the clinic. We go over how they are doing, if they have any symptoms that have emerged in the time that they had not been seen, plus we do blood work. The blood work simply involves checking their counts. Importantly, it's checking their counts, their white blood cell count, what it has done compared to what it was previously, how quickly it has risen, or has it remained stable. Then we pay a lot of attention to hemoglobin and platelet count. Hemoglobin, if it starts dropping below 10, then that's concerning. Hemoglobin, that means they're getting anemic. Or if the platelets consistently drop below 100,000, that's also concerning. These are the things that we watch out for. If hemoglobin platelets are dropping, those are indications for treatment. These are the usual tests that we do. We also check for the chemistry to see if there is any evidence of CLL causing any problems in the body. For example, there might be, as I said, CLL has floating cells in the blood, but it can also affect the lymph nodes and the spleen. And when it affects the lymph nodes, the lymph nodes grow over time. So for example, a lymph node may grow in the belly, and it may start pressing on the kidney system, causing the kidney number to increase. Or it may press on the liver system, causing the liver numbers to increase. So these are some of the things we also check the chemistry to look at all these parameters on an ongoing basis. I always like to say that no two CLL patients are the same. It always varies depending on the symptoms and the presentation and what the disease is like, and also depends on the patient. And so initially in the patients, when we first see them, we like to have tests drawn maybe every three to six months to look at the trend of the counts and the symptoms and see the trajectory of the disease. Later on after diagnosis, especially if the patients are stable and the counts aren't changing too much, this can be spaced out to every six to 12 months. And that may be different for patients who are actively receiving treatments. So if a patient is receiving treatment, they may need to get blood work more frequently, depending on the type of treatment. Could be weekly for some for a short period of time. And other treatments, it's monthly and other treatments every three months. So it really varies and depends on the patient and the treatment they're getting.
HealthTree • December 11, 2025