A pathologist's perspective on bone marrow aspiration and biopsy: I. performing a bone marrow examination

Abstract

The bone marrow aspirate and biopsy is an important medical procedure for the diagnosis of hematologic malignancies and other diseases, and for the follow-up evaluation of patients undergoing chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, and other forms of medical therapy. During the procedure, liquid bone marrow is aspirated from the posterior iliac crest or sternum with a special needle, smeared on glass microscope slides by one of several techniques, and stained by the Wright-Giemsa or other techniques for micro-scopic examination. The bone marrow core biopsy is obtained from the posterior iliac crest with a Jamshidi or similar needle and processed in the same manner as other surgical specimens. Flow cytometric examination, cytochemical stains, cytogenetic and molecular analysis, and other diagnostic procedures can be performed on bone marrow aspirate material, while sections prepared from the bone marrow biopsy can be stained by the immunoperoxidase or other techniques. The bone marrow procedure can be performed with a minimum of discomfort to the patient if adequate local anesthesia is utilized. Pain, bleeding, and infection are rare complications of the bone marrow procedure performed at the posterior iliac crest, while death from cardiac tamponade has rarely occurred from the sternal bone marrow aspiration. The recent development of bone marrow biopsy needles with specially sharpened cutting edges and core-securing devices has reduced the discomfort of the procedure and improved the quality of the specimens obtained.

Comparative Analysis of Diagnostic Value of Simultaneous Use of Bone Marrow Aspiration and Biopsy in Routine Haematology Practice: An Institutional Experience

“…These procedures are also useful for follow up of the patients undergoing chemotherapy. 5,6 In the present study 25 out of total 50 cases showed comparable results between BMA and BMB. Out of these 25 cases, indication for bone marrow examination was anaemia in 14 cases and both BMA and BMB examination revealed erythroid hyperplasia with either micronormoblastic or megaloblastic proliferation.…”

A Comparative Evaluation of Simultaneous Bone Marrow Aspiration And Bone Marrow Biopsy Interpretations In Routine Hematology Practice with Special Reference to Flow Cytometry And Cytogenetic Analysis :

“…These procedures are also valuable for follow-up of patients undergoing chemotherapy to know the remission status and also in those candidates undergoing for bone marrow transplantation. [21,22]. it is a well known fact that BMB and BMA are complimentary to each other.…”

Comparative Evaluation of Simultaneous Bone Marrow Aspiration and Bone Marrow Biopsy: An Institutional Experience

“…These procedures are also valuable for follow up of patients undergoing chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation and other forms of medical treatment [1,2]. Involvement of marrow by metastatic tumour, have an effect on clinical treatment and prognosis.…”