blood test

[john2live]

I went to the hospital yesterday due to chest pain. They did a cbc test on me. They didn't tell me anything about my wbc but gave me a printout of the test. It shows that my wbc is 11.6. It says the reference range is 4.8 - 10.8. Is this too high where it can be lukemia? I am now worried seing that. Also it says my lymph Rel RESP is L 23.4.

If any has any knowlage of this it would help for some info

THanks

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

A high WBC count is often linked to infection.  Of course, it could also be linked to leukemia, but that would be the case if only a very specific white blood cell type was increased.  If they found a mix of white blood cell types, not just one specific cell type, in a blood smear, then they would not suspect leukemia.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

They could cause these changes.  Pathologists think leukemia when one specific cell subtype predominates, but when there are multiple cell subtype changes, this is not usually diagnostic for leukemia.  There could be another type of cancer that is causing these changes, chronic infections, or other insults that are causing shifts in white blood cell counts.

[SarahB79]

My neutrophils/segs are consistantly high - 8.5 (over a years time - drawn every 2 months due to other reasons) each time they get a little higher.  My lymphocytes are consistantly getting lower and lower (16).  Is that significant enough to think Leukemia or other cancer?

Would autoimmune disorders cause this type of abnormal blood counts?