WHAT IS A BONE MARROW BIOPSY?
Doctors can diagnose many problems that cause anaemia, some infections, and some kinds of leukaemia or lymphoma cancers by examining a sample of your bone marrow. Bone marrow is the tissue where blood cells are made. A bone marrow biopsy is a procedure to collect such a sample. It is done using a needle inserted through the outside surface of a bone and into the middle of the bone, where the marrow is.
HOW To PREPARE FOR THE TEST?
You will need to sign a consent form giving your doctor permission to perform this test. Because you will probably receive some pain medicines or anti-anxiety medications that can make you drowsy, you will need to arrange a ride home.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TEST IS PERFORMED?
Most patients have this test done by a haematologist (a blood specialist). A sedative may be injected at this time. Most patients have bone marrow sampled from the pelvis. You lie on your stomach and the doctor feels the bones at the top of your buttock. An area on your buttock is cleaned with soap. A local anaesthetic is injected to numb the skin and the tissue underneath the skin in the sampling area.
A small cut is made in the skin to allow the biopsy needle to be placed through the skin. This needle is about half as wide as a pencil and has a handle on one end that your doctor holds while he or she moves it through your bone. The biopsy needle is moved through the bone with a twisting motion, as a corkscrew would be moved through a cork.
When the needle has passed through the top layer of bone, your doctor uses a syringe to pull a liquid sample of your bone marrow cells through the needle. For most patients, the suction used in this liquid collection causes a pain in the buttock for a few seconds.
After taking the liquid sample, the doctor carefully moves the needle a little bit further into the bone marrow to collect a second sample of marrow called a core biopsy. This core biopsy is a small solid piece of bone marrow. The sample contains cells and also the fat and bone fibres that hold them together.
After the needle is pulled out, this solid sample can be pushed out of the needle with a wire so that it can be examined under a microscope. Pressure is applied to your buttock at the biopsy location for a few minutes. A bandage is placed on your buttock.
WHAT RISKS ARE THERE FROM THE TEST?
Complications are rare, but no procedure is completely free of risk. If you are planning to have this procedure, your doctor will review a list of possible complications which may include:
- Infection
- Bleeding
Some risk factors for complications during this procedure include:
- Bleeding disorders
- Infection of the skin at the biopsy site
- Infection in the bloodstream
- Prior radiation treatment to the biopsy site
- Severe osteoporosis
HOW LONG IS IT BEFORE THE RESULT OF THE TEST IS KNOWN?
The samples taken need to be treated in the laboratory and prepared on slides that can be seen under the microscope. Some parts of your bone marrow biopsy report may be available within a day, but some tests require special stains or tests that can take longer, in some cases a week or longer.
WHY KIMS?
At KIMS, we take extra care to ensure that tests and procedures are done to perfection, and give accurate results in a short amount of time. Our tests help you ease your concerns and give you hope for treatment, recovery an cure.