A review of 700 bone marrow aspirations in Papua New Guinea

A retrospective survey of 700 marrow examinations in Papua New Guinea in a 2 1/2 year period has been carried out. Over half of the total came from the Port Moresby General Hospital. Anaemia and splenomegaly were the commonest indications. A disturbing proportion of the specimens were unsatisfactory for interpretation. Hypercellular marrows with erythroid hyperplasia were very common. Iron stores were absent or nearly absent in almost half of the evaluable specimens; this proportion rose to over 95% amongst pregnant or post-partum women with anaemia. Other relatively frequent findings included: a combination of features consistent with hypersplenism; mild degrees of eosinophilia and/or plasmacytosis; and mild degrees of megaloblastic changes. Haematological malignancies were found in over 10% of evaluable specimens. Of 611 assessable marrows from Melanesians, only 11 (1.8%) were entirely normal, but another 151 (24.7%) contained only minor abnormalities.