General Concerns

Auer Rods Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," What are auer rods and what do they do? Vicki Sherry, MSN, CRNP, Advanced Practice Oncology Nurse, responds:Auer rods are clumps of granular material found in leukemic blast cells, part of the diagnosis of leukemia....
Autologous Stem Cell Transplant: What to Expect Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My 40 yr old son has just been diagnosed with stage III recurrent Hodgkin's disease. His oncologist has suggested a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment. Can you please tell us what to expect as a result of...
Benefit of freezing stem cells if there is a compatible sibling donor Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My partner has CML, and is taking Gleevec. His molecular response has been good. His doctor is suggesting he does a stem cell harvest to keep some stem cells frozen for if & when he needs them. My partner has a...
Chromosome Abnormalities in Leukemia Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My son-in-law was recently diagnosed with leukemia. He is at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC because he is serving in the U.S. Army. He and my daughter were told that he has an "inverted 16th...
Cisplatin versus Carboplatin Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," Two respected oncology doctors have given [me] conflicting advice for stage IIIa NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) and chemotherapy after surgery. One advised cisplatin, saying it was somewhat more effective than...
Diagnostic tools used to detect leukemia Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," What diagnostic tools could have been used to detect leukemia? Selina M. Luger, MD, Director of the Leukemia Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,...
Fertility after Leukemia treatment Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," I am a 24-year-old female who had APL leukemia in august 1999. I took Ara-C, Daunorubicin, and Retnoic acid pills. I would like to try to have a baby with my husband and need to know if the chemo could have...
Full remission in leukemia Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My son was diagnosed with leukemia in April 2002 and he has completed his chemotherapy, radiation and he is now in maintenance. My question is "What do you mean by full remission? How can we determine whether my son...
Gleevec and the possibility of birth defects Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My brother is taking Gleevec and his wife wanted a child. Now she is pregnant and my family is concerned that this chemotherapy can be a cause for fetal anomalies. Selina M. Luger, MD, Director...
Leukemia vs. Mantle cell lymphoma Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My mother was told she has leukemia. Then they gave her a bone marrow test and told her she has mantle cell lymphoma. Everything I have read says she needed a lymph node biopsy. Tomorrow they are giving her a MRI on...
Myelodysplasia Dear OncoLink "Ask the Experts," My Mom was diagnosed with Myelodysplasia. Mom has been on various forms of medication to encourage her bone marrow into producing red blood cells. So far nothing has worked. Mom's hematologist is now...
Myeloproliferative disorders Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," I have a friend who was just diagnosed with MPD. Could you please send me information on what the disorder is exactly? Selina M. Luger, MD, Director of the Leukemia Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at...
Pancytopenia Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My friend was diagnosed last night with Pancytopenia. Can you explain this condition please? Selina M. Luger, MD, Director of the Leukemia Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the...
Precautions for children of a bone marrow transplant patient Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My brother is about to undergo a bone marrow transplant and he has a 5 year old daughter in kindergarten. We are considering pulling her out of kindergarten when he comes home for fear of her being sick and bringing...
Risks of bone marrow donation Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," I am a match to donate bone marrow to my brother. My question is what are my risks, if any, as a bone marrow donor? Selina M. Luger, MD, Director of the Leukemia Program and Assistant Professor of Medicine at...
Undifferentiated Acute Leukemia Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My son was diagnosed with acute undifferentiated leukemia. We cannot find any information on this [disease] or on treatment options. Can you help shed some light on this, and why this type of leukemia is treated as...
What is the difference between CML (chronic myelogenous leukemia) become AML (acute myelogenous leukemia) and CMMoL (chronic myelomonocytic leukemia)? Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts," My mother has been diagnosed with CML, however, due to a "negative" result of the Philadelphia chromosome, the doctors are having her examined for chronic myelo-monocytic leukemia. What are the risks for...