DocVikingo:
As a "quality assurance auditor" have you the medical background and medical facts required to make the statement, "In the absence of other disease or symptoms, don't worry about it?"
An abnormally high red blood cell count can lead to clot formation with subsequent blockage of capillaries, cardiac attack and stoke.
With a number of disoders, an elevated RCC may be the first and only indication that something is amiss and by the time other signs and symptoms appear damage has already taken place.
For example, polycythemia vera, an uncommon but potentially serious condition in which bone marrow produces an excessive number of RBCs, the disease typically develops slowly and there may be no symptoms for years.
Regards,
DocVikingo
I never said what I audit in QA now did I? My original training was in Medical
Technology when we learned to perform all the tests manually, not simply look at a computer readout.
As I stated, I have had a high HCT for many years. None of the many MDs I have consulted over the years have given it a second thought. According to the classical texts I have at home, a male HCT of 51 is within normal limits. But then a blood sugar done by the Folin-Wu method had a normal limit of up to 125mg% or so. My own FBS has been running at about 100mg/dl for years, no matter what method was used. So last annual, my FBS was at 101, with a "normal" upper limit of 99. My PCP didn't blink an eye, but I went to a "specialist" for another matter and he just about bounced off the walls. One cannot make a diagnosis from a single random sample. There are reasons for all of this, but I do not want to get into a discussion of the recent changes to normal limits or how they were derived. Or, for that matter, what to do when the patient population is not middle-class, Caucasian, with a western diet.
I also stated that "in the absence of other symptoms or disease". The original poster pointed out that his MD merely suggested retests. An astute physicial such as yourself would suspect the rare and not obvious condition and, if the patient's presentation and symptoms warranted, perform tests to confirm or rule out the diagnosis.
As the poster mentioned no other special tests, but just a monitoring, my supposition and opinion are reasonable. If the MD DID suspect something, he should inform the patient immediately and take the appropriate steps. You know, patient rights, HIPAA and all that.
