Bone Marrow Biopsy
In many hematological conditions, particularly leukemias, examination of the bone marrow may be the only procedure to arrive at a correct diagnosis. It provides the opportunity of directly examining the tissue which forms blood cells. The examination is easy to perform and safe, except in severe bleeding disorders like hemophilia, and can be performed as an outdoor procedure as many times as required. There are two methods of examining the bone marrow: Smears prepared from a needle aspirate Sections prepared from a trephine or open surgical biopsy specimen of the bone marrow Smears show better morphological details of individual cells and are also used for cytochemical staining and immunological studies. However these do not show spatial distribution of normal and abnormal cells and their exact quantity. For this a biopsy section is examined. THE ASPIRATION OF BONE MARROW INDICATIONS A needle aspiration of the bone marrow is indicated for the diagnosis of primary...