Instructions for seeking medical attention: If you suspect that you have leukemia, you should go to the hospital and see a hematologist in a timely manner. The first thing you need to do is to have your peripheral blood tested. If all the indicators of blood count are in the normal range, the possibility of the existence of leukemia is ruled out and the concern is relieved. If all indicators are reduced, or if there is a significant increase in white blood cells, or if there is an increase in white blood cells along with a decrease in hemoglobin and platelets, a peripheral blood smear should be stained and classified by microscopic observation of cell morphology.
If naïve cells are found in the blood smear, it must be investigated to the end. Confirmation of leukemia bone marrow aspiration is necessary, must not be delayed, should be done early diagnosis, as soon as possible, treatment, delayed diagnosis will bring many problems to the treatment. Once the diagnosis of leukemia is confirmed, there should be further laboratory tests, such as immunophenotypic tests, cytogenetic and molecular biology tests, to clarify which type of leukemia belongs to, only to clarify the type of leukemia, in order to choose the appropriate treatment plan for a good treatment effect.
The majority of medical units are now using machines, and manual tests are gradually being eliminated. The routine includes hemoglobin, red blood cell count, red blood cell pressure, white blood cell count and its general classification, platelet count, and the average volume of red blood cells, average hemoglobin volume and average hemoglobin concentration of red blood cells, which are less relevant to the diagnosis of leukemia.
If the test results are below the respective normal ranges mentioned above, they are decreased, and above this range, they are increased. The presence of naive granulocytes (e.g., primitive, early, intermediate, and late granulocytes) and immature erythrocytes with nuclei should not be present in normal peripheral blood.
The vast majority of patients with acute leukemia have varying degrees of decreased hemoglobin or red blood cell counts at first diagnosis, although a few patients are found early and their hemoglobin or red blood cells remain in the normal range. The platelet count may be normal or slightly low in the early stages of the disease, but as the disease progresses, there is a significant decrease in platelets. The presence of a high number of leukemic cells of various series (primitive cells and promyelocytes/naive monocytes or naive lymphocytes) in the peripheral blood is one of the important clues for the diagnosis of acute leukemia, but in patients with reduced leukocyte count, leukemic cells are often not easily seen in the peripheral blood classification.