Comparative study of bone marrow aspiration and needle biopsy for stainable Iron

Abstract

The amount of stainable Iron in the bone marrow is frequently used as a means of assessing Iron stores. In our study marrow Iron assessed in needle biopsy sections and simultaneously obtained aspirated smears from 75 patients. Significantly different amounts of stainable Iron were observed in needle biopsy and aspirated smears in 53.3% of the specimen. The usual difference consisted of significantly less stainable Iron in needle biopsy sections as compared to the aspirated smears (49.3%). In according to this study, in comparison of needle biopsy section to aspirated smears (As a golden test), sensitivity and specificity were 88 and 64 percent, respectively. Also, positive and negative predictive values were 56.5 and 91%, respectively. It can be appreciated that marrow assessment of Iron content may be associated with distinct differences between the needle biopsy specimens, and the aspirated smears, and could lead to diagnostic error, although, with some limitations and cautions biopsy specimen can be used for Iron assessment.

Keywords

• Bone marrow
• Biopsy
• Aspiration
• Stainable iron