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Latest Blood Work
Feb 5, 2002
Dear Dr,
My blood work from 10-01 was as follows: vl undetectable, cd4 738. I hav been on Combivir and Sustiva since 4/01. mt latest bloodwork show that I am still undetectable but the CD4 only went up by one cell (739). I have been 100 compliant. Why shoud it only go up by one?
Thanks
NYC
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Response from Dr. Young
Thanks for your question and congratulations on a difficult adherence job well done.
My view of your CD4 cell counts, is that at baseline, they were in the normal range; hence, you might not get much of a boost from therapy (at least numerically). I often caution patients in expecting CD4 cells to continue to rise -- this is to say that more may not necessarily be better.
Another quality check is to ask about your CD4 cell percentage (in addition to the CD4 absolute count)-- here, we'd like to see either an increased level or certainly one that is also in the normal range.
Lastly, absolute CD4 cell counts vary tremendously from hour to hour (as much as 15-20%)-- it's actually surprising that the two numbers are in this much agreement.
Overall, I suspect that your CD4 counts (both percentage and absolute) are in the normal range, and should not be cause of great concern.
Hope this answer helps, BY
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