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Blood counts following radiotherapy to shrink spleenMyelofibrosis
I have myelofibrosis and am being admitted shortly for chemo conditioning and then sct. Before that I have to have some radiotherapy to shrink my enlarged spleen (6 x 1 gy). Has amyone experienced this. They say my blood counts will fall so they want to admit me early on. Has anyone had experience of this?
Answers
Hello scaredy cat, would be nice to have your name. I'm sure you're not a scaredy cat.
I have no experience and can't help. Hope you find someone. Don't forget there's also gvhd Facebook group with over 4 thousand members.
Best of luck
Helen
Hi scaredy_cat,
Thanks for reaching out to the forum for some advice. This is predominantly a peer support platform and I appreciate you are asking for other peoples experience but I wanted to reassure you, in my position as Lead Nurse.
It sounds like the radiotherapy is targeted to your spleen with the specific aim of reducing its size before transplant. Sometimes radiotherapy is used in another way pre-transplant, as apart of the conditioning, this is called Total Body Irradiation (TBI).
Exposure to radiotherapy can risk a decrease in blood counts, this combined with your poorly functioning bone marrow as a result of your myleofibrosis, puts you at a higher risk of developing an infection.
Keeping you as well as possible pre-transplant is really important, so admitting you to keep a close eye on your blood counts sounds very sensible.
I hope this helps you understand the rationale for an earlier admission. If you'd like to speak to someone about your upcoming treatment and transplant, please call our helpline 0303 300 0303 or you can email us direct @ patientinfo@anthonynolan.org.
I hope your forthcoming treatment goes smoothly.
Kind regards
Rachel- Lead Nurse