One hundred and sixty six bone marrow aspirates from children with abdominal neuroblastoma were independently examined for the presence of neuroblastoma cells by conventional haematological staining techniques and by indirect immunofluorescence using one or more of five monoclonal antibodies. Results using the two methods were evaluated by comparison with the results of bone marrow, bone and ly...

Sixty patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) underwent bone marrow trephine biopsy at presentation. All the biopsies were decalcified, paraffin-embedded and stained with H&E, Gomori's reticulin and Masson Trichrome. A detailed study of the histology including the morphology and topographic distribution of megakaryocytes was done. 55 patients presented in chronic phase. Of these there were...

BACKGROUND Core biopsy of vertebral bone is traditionally carried out in the prone position under radiological guidance using a trephine. If biopsy of the intervertebral disc is required, the same technique and instrumentation is used or fine-needle aspiration is performed. The biopsy obtained with the trephine relies on capillary action and the volume of sample tissue is often small. The sensi...

The instrument described here consists of a special syringe on which sharp cutting needles of various sizes are mounted. These produce undistorted biopsy specimens. Suction is used only to retain the specimen within the needle, and the cleancut cylinder of tissue is quite unlike that obtained by aspiration. Gillman and Gillman&2 used this principle for their liver biopsy instrument. We have ret...

BACKGROUND Although some hazards are recognised, in general, bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy are thought to be safe procedures. Until recently, no attempt had been made to quantify any attendant risks. For this reason, documentation of adverse events was begun in 2001, under the auspices of the British Society for Haematology. Three consecutive years have now been surveyed, the resul...

Bone marrow plasma cell infiltration (PCI), as measured by aspirate morphology and/or trephine immunohistochemistry, has long been an integral element in the diagnosis of plasma cell myeloma (PCM). According to the updated criteria of the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG), demonstration of clonal bone marrow plasma cells ≥10% by either aspirate or trephine biopsy is required in additio...

AIMS To assess the feasibility of training nurse practitioners to perform bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy, and to compare the quality of these samples with those obtained by medical staff. METHODS A retrospective audit was undertaken of nurse practitioner and medical staff performance in bone marrow procedures in a busy haematology day unit. RESULTS Nurse practitioners fared favo...

Bone marrow infiltrates taken from 11 patients with peripheral T cell lymphoma were immunophenotyped as T cell lymphoma using monoclonal antibodies on frozen bone marrow trephine biopsy specimens. In nine these were taken at diagnosis and in two after failure of treatment to eradicate lymphoma in the marrow. Patterns of infiltration were as follows: diffuse (n = 4), interstitial (n = 1), nodula...