Sensitivity of detection of B-cell lymphoma in bone marrow by fluorescence in situ hybridization

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used in a retrospective study of bone marrow aspirate specimens submitted for conventional cytogenetic analysis with an indication of B-cell lymphoma. About 50% of cytogenetically normal samples, which had been identified as containing lymphoma by pathology, showed small cell populations with an IGH gene rearrangement by FISH. This study demonstrates that FISH scoring of 750 nuclei provides a 99% chance of identifying the presence of lymphoma with a 14q32 aberration when this population constitutes approximately 8% of the bone marrow.