Bone marrow biopsy in Hodgkin's disease

Bone marrow biopsies of 58 untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease were evaluated. Marrow involvement was seen in 36.2 % cases. Positive marrow biopsies were seen mainly in patients with clinical stages III and IV. Bone marrow involvement was most common in patients with less than 15 years of age and in males. HD patients with mixed cellularity had highest incidence of marrow involvement while none of the patients with lymphocytic predominance showed BM involvement. Focal infiltration was found to be more common. Bone marrow aspiration smears were negative in majority of cases with positive marrow biopsies. Thus BM trephine biopsy is a simple tool for assessment of disease spread.