Endotoxin contamination of some erythropoietin preparations: an emerging question.

We appreciate Dr. Drewinko’s clarification of the term “aspirate” as used in our report. Although the technique of the aspirate smear preparations was described in Materials and Methods, the more precise term “aspirate smear preparation” would be more appropriate. The experience by others as described by Dr. Drewinko has in general demonstrated the superiority of cellularity determination using the marrow aspirate clot section technique as opposed to the smear or spread preparation. We have not routinely employed the former technique, however, preferring the routine use of the biopsy for nearly all marrow examinations at our institution. Furthermore, our neport concerned the results of marrow cellularity