An adult whose peripheral blood leukocyte count is consistently higher than 9.5 x 109/L is considered above normal and is referred to as leukocytosis. The harm caused by high leukocytes is directly related to the primary cause of the elevated leukocytes, the most common of which are the following: Neutrophils are increased in various infectious diseases, such as streptococcal pneumonia and parasitic infections. When myocardial infarction, surgery and other necrotic diseases, as well as rheumatoid diseases and other immune system diseases occur, the immune system in the patient’s body will play a protective role to remove harmful substances from the body, thus causing the neutrophil count to rise to varying degrees. In this case, it is only necessary to carry out relevant treatment for the cause of the disease, and the increased neutrophils will gradually return to normal.
However, when hematologic malignant diseases such as leukemia occur, the leukocyte count in the patient’s body can increase significantly, up to tens of times the normal level. If the leukocyte count in the blood exceeds 100×109/L, the patient may develop leukocyte stasis, with dangerous symptoms such as respiratory distress, hypoxemia, unresponsiveness, slurred speech and intracranial hemorrhage. Therefore, when the leukocyte count in the blood exceeds 100×109/L, emergency treatment measures such as blood cell separators can be taken to prevent complications from arising, while targeted treatment should be given for the primary disease, such as combination chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia, in order to finally control the disease.
Therefore, high leukocytes may be both an immune response of the body to clear harmful substances and a malignant disease response, and its degree of harm to the human body is also different. For leukocyte hyperplasia should be combined with medical history and standardized examination to make a clear diagnosis and then make treatment.