What blood tests are checked during chemotherapy, and why are they checked?
Chemotherapy can affect all the rapidly growing cells in the body. One important part of the body that is filled with rapidly growing cells is the bone marrow. That is where your different kinds of blood cells are made. White blood cells help combat infection. Too few white cells is called neutropenia, and can put you at risk for significant infection. Red blood cells carry oxygen to your body. When you have too few red blood cells, it is called anemia.
This can leave you very tired, but can also be dangerous if not enough oxygen is getting to your heart and brain. Platelets are little cells that help your blood clot.
Not having enough platelets is called thrombocytopenia, and can cause you to bleed easily.
A complete blood count and platelet count are the tests that check the amounts of all the cells in the blood.
If any of these levels are too low, you might not get the next cycle of chemotherapy. If your red cell count is very low, you might need a blood transfusion. There is also medicine that can help stimulate your body to make more red blood cells. Low platelets can be helped by a transfusion of platelets. For white cells, there is also a medication that can stimulate your body to make more.
Some chemotherapy agents can damage your kidney, which filters and cleans your blood, and also your liver, which does its own kind of cleaning and maintaining your body. The function of these organs will be checked with a chemistry panel, and if there is a problem, your chemotherapy could be postponed, or the dosage lowered.