Bone marrow biopsy changes in acute myeloid leukaemia. I: Observations before chemotherapy

Pretreatment bone marrow trephine biopsy sections (BMB) from 34 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) were studied in parallel with bone marrow aspiration smears and peripheral blood films. In four cases marrow aspiration was inadequate and in five cases it was unsatisfactory. In two other cases hypoplastic AML was diagnosed, the aspirate in one suggested hypercellularity and in another it was unsatisfactory. Trephine biopsy was superior to aspiration for the evaluation of fat and marrow cellularity, pattern and extent of blast cell infiltration, homogeneity of the leukaemic infiltrate, frequency of mitoses, residual haemopoietic activity and presence of inflammatory cells. Of the various features studied in the sections, the presence of an increased number of plasma cells and considerable myelodysplasia (MD) appeared to be unfavourable prognostic features. We conclude that trephine biopsies are essential for the diagnosis of hypoplastic AML and are most useful when marrow aspiration is either inadequate or unsatisfactory. They also provide additional information about the bone marrow changes in AML and suggest that some histological features may also have prognostic significance.