The bone marrow transplant doctor rang this afternoon with Jeremy's bone marrow aspirate results from last week. He told us that his results are inconclusive - they are not definitely MRD Negative (ie. no detectable leukemia cells), but they are also not definitely MRD Positive (ie. leukaemia cells have been detected). Jeremy's previous results have all been MRD Negative.
MRD or Minimal Residual Disease testing is at a highly sensitive molecular biology level (we are talking about looking for DNA markers) but there are limits to that sensitivity. Jeremy's results this time are at the "fuzzy grey area" at the limit of that sensitivity.
What this all means is that -
- thankfully, he has not relapsed and the leukaemia has not come back
- his blood counts are normal and he is clinically well
- he will have another bone marrow aspirate in 2 months' time, instead of 3 months' time
The doctor also told us that he is not worried, and that he has seen this happen before. Sometimes a patient's MRD is inconclusive for a few bone marrow aspirates, and then MRD Negative again after that.
Thank you to all who have been praying for Jeremy. Please pray that the results of his next bone marrow aspirate will be MRD Negative.
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