Authors:

Abstract

Introduction: Bone marrow examination is an invaluable haematological investigation for the assessment of many clinical conditions where it provides key diagnostic information.

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the indications and outcomes of bone marrow examination over three years.

Methods: A retrospective study design was used and data from January 2017 to December 2019 was retrieved from the archive maintained at the Haematology Unit, Teaching Hospital, Jaffna.

Results: A total of 857 bone marrow examinations were performed during the three year study period. The male to female ratio was 1:1.04. Age range was from 1 to 86 years with a mean of 52.96 years. The common indications for bone marrow examination were work up for unexplained cytopaenia, suspected haematological malignancies and plasma cell neoplasm. Of the total bone marrow examinations, 7.93% were performed to assess response to treatment of haematological malignancies, 21.82% were found to be normal active marrow and 70.24% were found to be having pathological conditions. Of those identified as pathological based on bone marrow findings 60.8% were malignant and 39.20% were nonmalignant. Acute leukaemia (10.5%) was the commonest haematological malignancy in the study group followed by plasma cell neoplasm (8.52%) and chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm (8.40%).The commonest acute leukaemia identified was acute myeloid leukaemia (7.47%).

Conclusion: Bone marrow examination plays a pivotal role in diagnosing malignant and non-malignant haematological conditions and some selected non haematological conditions. A precise pre-procedural assessment and subsequent clinical correlation would further improve the value of the investigation.

Keywords: Bone marrow aspiration, Trephine biopsy, Haematological malignancies, Non-malignant haematological disorders