An absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) is a simple blood test that can be used in conjunction with a complete blood count. It’s a simple and inexpensive test, but one that provides some very important prognostic information. Offered primarily to children and young adults, a high count can be an independent predictor of risk, survival, or relapse when certain types of leukemia are suspected.
It is known to predict differences in survival and relapse of up to 50%. This is true even when all of the other predictors have been accounted for during the diagnostic or follow-up exams. The ALC blood test is often information that is even taken already when neutrophil counts are being looked at, especially when bone marrow recovery needs to be determined. It is simply the second line on most complete blood count tests that are ordered for this purpose.
What Do My Test Results Mean?
When the ALC blood test is ordered, the goal is to determine risk. Higher count levels become predictors for disease development or relapse. If these counts remain high, then it becomes a risk factor for long-term survivability as well. Lymphocytes make up to 30% of the total white blood cell count that can be found in the blood.
A good indicator that treatments may need to start is if the ALC blood test results double within a period of 6 months. This time period, which is called lymphocyte doubling time, indicates that there is a need for the bone marrow to produce more of these white blood cells. This is why it is such an important predictor for certain types of leukemia.
There Is a Second ALC Blood Test
There is another blood test that is also referred to as the ALC blood test in some communities. In this version of the test, the goal is to detect the amount of ethyl alcohol that happens to be in a person’s blood. The test can then document how much alcohol was consumed prior to the test and in what amount. The test results can then correlate directly with how intoxicated the individual happened to be from their alcohol drinking choices.
In this format, the ALC blood test helps law enforcement and medical providers understand how much alcohol is being consumed. Ethanol is the most abused substance in the United States and can be found in many different types of liquor, including whiskey and rum. It acts as a depressant, much like an anesthetic would act, and this is why having a large content of it in the blood can change a person’s behavior.
Being drunk means having clouded judgment, impaired thought, and these impairments continue to increase as the level of ethanol content increases.
What do these test results mean? In the United States, the standard of ethanol content that is against the law to have when operating a motor vehicle is 80 mg/dL. This is typically expressed in a number that is measured in g/dL instead, which would be 0.08.
Global standards and specific state standards in the US may be different. The blood alcohol content may be as low as 0.05 to qualify for operating a vehicle while impaired. Any time a person’s ALC blood test results would measure at 0.03, there is an indication that an alcoholic beverage has been consumed.
The test results are limited to 10 mg/dL, which means the minimum measurement will be 0.01 if there is ethanol that has been detected in the blood. When someone reaches a concentration of 400 mg/dL, or 0.40, then ethanol poisoning may occur as a toxic concentration. Individual usage can drive up this potentially fatal reading.
Some people can function normally when their BAC reaches 0.15. In these individuals, the tolerance to ethanol has developed from consistent use or abuse just as other drugs become tolerated by the body. In this circumstance, the ALC blood test may be used as a diagnostic tool for alcoholism so that a treatment plan can be developed.
Which ALC Blood Test Is Necessary?
Adults will not typically have a complete blood count ordered for lymphocytes unless a specific leukemia is suspected as the cause of certain bothersome signs and symptoms. This may include unexpected weight loss, a lack of energy, and a general feeling of malaise. Children and young adults will not typically have the ethanol content of their blood measured unless there is a specific reason for law enforcement or a medical provider to need this information.
Both forms of the ALC blood test provide useful information that can aid in future treatments and responses to individual health needs. Speak with your medical provider today about which of these tests is right for you.