Value of bone marrow imprint smears in early diagnosis of bone marrow pathologies

Examination of bone marrow plays a pivotal role in the practice of haematology. It can be evaluated by three ways-bone marrow aspiration (BMA), bone marrow touch imprints (BMI) and bone marrow biopsy (BMBx).

To study the efficacy and reliability of BMI smears in comparison to BMA smears, in making a diagnosis of diseases involving bone marrow. Setting and Designs: This study was carried out in the Department of Pathology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi over a period of 26 months.

A total number of 182 cases, with their BMA, BMI and BMBx samples (from each and every case), were evaluated and their findings even compared.

All the observations were evaluated using simple and basic statistical tool, i.e. percentage.

The cellularity or cell density on BMI correlated with the cellularity of BMBx in 78.6% cases, which was higher than the value observed with BMA smears (71.4%). The spreading quality was better and cytological details were better appreciated in BMI as compared to BMA. Also, the presence of lymphoglandular bodies and particles on BMI were additive diagnostic clues. All of those findings were reflected in the higher diagnostic accuracy of BMI than BMA.

BMI should be a standard practice and be considered as an early and reliable diagnostic tool for evaluating bone marrow pathologies.