Elevated TNF-a and NK?

[belbyr]

I was going back through test results before a hematologist appointment and was wondering if these had any clinical significance?

 

[shak8]

My gut (and non-professional, though RN) opinion is that those levels are not hugely above the upper limits of normal and so may not be important.

 

[hibiscuswahine]

Clinical significance is a tricky one, (I am a retired doctor, not an immunologist or a specialist in medicine). These are a) abnormal b) are the mild/moderately/severely abnormal? Likely in the mildly abnormal range, just out of normal range, not double or triple outside normal range.

They need to be considered in the context of other blood tests for infection/illness, history of past and current illness (which would include verbal history and physical examination, past tests and treatment etc etc. )

An immunologist/physician would likely compare your results to other clients with similar presentations, use their clinical experience, training and research to decide on the clinical significance.

 

[Hutan]

If you have results outside of normal ranges, it is perfectly reasonable for you to ask a doctor that you are seeing about them. In fact, I think it's a good idea, as sometimes results can be overlooked, especially if the doctor you are seeing didn't order the tests. And, I think it can be useful to have googled the test a bit before you ask about the result, so that you have an idea of what the measure is and can understand any explanation you are given better.

Results can bounce around a bit, so a few out of range results may perhaps not mean a lot, as Shak8 says. But, I think, if you have an out of range result, it's worth watching what happens in subsequent tests. I think it's reasonable to say to a doctor when they suggest a new blood test - 'my last XX result was above the normal range, so can we include that in this next blood test?'.

 

[Creekside]

I had a cytokine assay done, and a few cytokines were elevated or mildly elevated. The immunologist's interpretation was "There's something going on, but it's not a pattern I'm familiar with, so I can't help you." I'm no expert either, but I expect that a few slightly elevated readings are not going to point you to a diagnosis, treatment, or anything else useful. Our cytokine levels vary too much day-to-day, during a day, and person vs person. Unfortunately, ME doesn't have a distinct cytokine marker, such as IL-whatever at 7x normal.