if an elderly person had low hemoglobin, received 3 units of blood, and after 3 days still has good blood coun

Question

and still has good blood count after 3 days-------would this indicate no leukemia? had bone marrow test done today---had an ulcer and was on gout medication(dr. didn't know) he thinks this could have caused bleeding ulcer---can anyone advise? we are all worried. thanx

Answer 1

The bone marrow test is extremely useful to rule out several causes of anemia including: leukemia, lymphoma, myelofibrosis.
Iron deficiency can also be diagnosed on a bone marrow biopsy (by looking at iron stores in the marrow)

The fact the blood count stayed up for 3 days after a transfusion is a good sign that there isn't severe acute blood loss, but doesn't prove anything.

Did the doctor check your stool for blood? That is the easiest way to check if you are losing blood through your GI tract, or not making enough. It is possible though that you could be bleeding intermittently, so even if the "finger in the butt" test is negative, if the bone marrow test is normal, you probably need to be scoped from above and below (upper endoscopy, and colonoscopy).

Answer 2

More than likely it was the gout medication. Leukemia would have probably shown up in the white blood cell count of the cbc donebefore or after the units infused, but bone marrow would tell for sure. Good luck to you and yours!

Answer 3

it sounds like it may be good but dont trust anyone on here to tell you anything,what did the marrow tests reveal,do a scan and find out if there is an ulcer sounds like you may need another physician