Bone marrow infiltration in "small blue cell tumours"

Small round blue cell tumors present predominantly during childhood and adolescence. They include Ewing's sarcoma, peripheral neuroectodermal tumors, retinoblastoma, nephroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, mesenchymal chondrosarcoma and small cell osteosarcoma. Bone marrow biopsy is indicated for staging the disease, and if marrow infiltration is detected, it is a poor prognostic indicator To evaluate the frequency and pattern of bone marrow infiltration by small round blue cell tumors. A retrospective descriptive study was carried out at Department of Pathology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences from January 2007 to December 2010. Histologically diagnosed and immunophenotypically verified cases of small round blue cell tumors [excluding lymphomas], referred for bone marrow examination were included in the study. Bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy was performed. Age and sex distribution, clinical findings, peripheral blood findings and frequency of bone marrow infiltration in different types of round blue cell tumors was noted and the data were analyzed on SPSS version 14. Amongst 82 cases included in the study, 42 were males and 38 females. Age ranged from 6 months to 22 years with mean age of 4.3 +/- 3.98 SD years. In the cases studied, 16 [19.5%] showed bone marrow infiltration. Bone marrow infiltration was observed in 19.5% of cases of round blue cell tumours