Comparative Analysis of Bone Marrow Aspiration Smears, Touch Imprints and Trephine Biopsy in Haematological Malignancies

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Inspection of the bone marrow is considered oneof the most valuable diagnostic tool to evaluate hematologicmalignancies. This study compares all three techniques ofbone marrow aspiration (BMA), bone marrow imprint (BMI)and bone marrow biopsy (BMB) in morphological diagnosisof hematological malignancies.Material and methods: The study was conducted on 63selected cases of various hematological malignancies. Onlythose cases in which bone marrow examination was done byusing all the three techniques were included in the study.Results: Out of total 63 cases,53 cases were diagnosed onbone marrow aspirate smears with diagnostic accuracy of84.12%, 60 cases were diagnosed on bone marrow imprintsmears with diagnostic accuracy of 95.23% and all 63 caseswere diagnosed on bone marrow biopsy with diagnosticaccuracy of 100%.Conclusion: It is concluded that bone marrow imprintsare equally useful as bone marrow biopsy in diagnosinghematological malignancies. Imprint cytology shouldtherefore be a standard practice for evaluating bone marrow incases of hematological malignancies.