Cancer Discussions - January 1st, 2010 - 6 Comments
It it common to delay treatment for BEP chemo for testicular cancer if the white blood count is low?
My son has stage 2A test cancer non sen….Is it common to delay treatment to see if his white blood count goes up?This would be his 2nd cycle. They don’t want to raise it with medication. Does this change his prognosis. He has no tumor markings, however they saw something in his lymph nodes.
yes it is common.
The reason they want his white blood cell count up is because the white blood cells fight infection. They are the warriors of the blood and when the count is low, he is at high risk of infection. So that’s why they are waiting. His body should be producing higher white blood cells on their own. Hope this happens soon. God bless you and I pray your son gets better.
Yes I’ve heard that is very common….
In general, chemotherapy treatments are frequently delayed due to low WBC counts, so the other posters are correct for the "usual" cases….
However, in testicular cancer, we generally treat right through neutropenia. That is, no delays, and give therapy at day 22 come "hell or high water." Now, if the patient had some other toxicity or infection, that might delay things a little (but not much).
Blessings
It is not uncommon for the white cell count to fall as a result of chemo. Because these are the cells that help to fight infection, you don’t want then to get too low. There are medications that boost white cell production. I’d ask the oncologist about using one, if not now, then to keep his counts up for the next cycles.
keep asking good questions
The impact of dose delays on outcomes has been studied in some cancers (eg, breast). I did not see anything in prostate cancer in PubMed (medical literature database).