Abstract
Objectives: To assess bone marrow (BM) sampling in academic medical centers. Methods: Data from 6,374 BM samples obtained in 32 centers in 2001 and 2011, including core length (CL), were analyzed. Results: BM included a biopsy (BMB; 93%) specimen, aspirate (BMA; 92%) specimen, or both (83%). The median (SD) CL was 12 (8.5) mm, and evaluable marrow was 9 (7.6) mm. Tissue contraction due to processing was 15%. BMB specimens were longer in adults younger than 60 years, men, and bilateral, staging, and baseline samples. Only 4% of BMB and 2% of BMB/BMA samples were deemed inadequate for diagnosis. BM for plasma cell dyscrasias, nonphysician operators, and ancillary studies usage increased, while bilateral sampling decreased over the decade. BM-related quality assurance programs are infrequent. Conclusions: CL is shorter than recommended and varies with patient age and sex, clinical circumstances, and center experience. While pathologists render diagnoses on most cases irrespective of CL, BMB yield improvement is desirable.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 393-405 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | American Journal of Clinical Pathology |
| Volume | 150 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Oct 2018 |
Keywords
- Bone marrow adequacy
- Bone marrow biopsy
- Bone marrow biopsy indications
- Bone marrow quality
- Core biopsy length