Further tests for acute myeloid leukaemia

You will probably have more blood tests. If your doctor thinks you have an infection, you will have blood taken for 'blood cultures'. This can show which types of antibiotics are likely to work best. You will also have blood taken to check your kidneys and liver are working properly.

You will have more bone marrow tests at various times throughout your treatment and follow up care. Bone marrow tests can help to

• Diagnose the correct type of leukaemia in the first place
• Show how well the leukaemia is responding to treatment
• Check for leukaemia cells after you've finished treatment

Checking for leukaemia cells after your treatment is over is called testing for 'minimal residual disease' or MRD. There is information about having a bone marrow test in the 'cancer tests' section.

You will have this done if your doctor thinks that a donor bone marrow transplant may be a possible treatment for you. Tissue typing is a set of blood tests that show how closely a possible bone marrow donor’s tissue matches your own. Your white blood cells have proteins called ‘HLA markers’ on their surface. HLA stands for ‘human leucocyte antigen’. If you and the bone marrow donor have very similar HLA markers, there is less chance that your immune system will reject their blood cells.

A small number of leukaemia cells may be left behind after treatment and this is called 'minimal residual disease' or MRD. Often after chemotherapy for leukaemia, the disease appears to have gone. No leukaemia cells can be seen in your blood and bone marrow samples. Doctors call this ‘remission'. But some leukaemia cells are often left behind (which is why you may go on to have a transplant).

There are two techniques for finding MRD. One type, called 'polymerase chain reaction' (PCR) looks for genetic changes in the cells. It can find one leukaemia cell among a million normal cells. The other test is called immunophenotyping. It checks for certain proteins made by leukaemia cells. So these tests can help to show how well your chemotherapy has worked and whether you are likely to have a relapse. Relapse is when the leukaemia comes back.