Comparison of bone marrow aspiration cytology, touch imprint cytology and bone marrow biopsy for bone marrow evaluation

Introduction: For diagnosis of hematological disorders there are three modalities to examine bone marrow, bone marrow aspiration cytology (BMA), bone marrow biopsy (BMB) and touch imprint cytology (BMI). BMA gives cytological picture, BMI also gives cytological picture but cells are less in number and BMB gives cytological as well as bone marrow architectural picture. BMA alone may not be sufficient to reach diagnosis therefore the present study was undertaken to compare the above three modalities. Material and methods: The present study was a prospective study done from January 2013 to December 2013. Total 51 cases, where BMA, BMI and BMB were performed on OPD and IPD patients at Dhiraj General Hospital, Vadodara were included. Complete clinical data were recorded including physical examination, complete hematological study along with other relevant investigations and proforma filled. Results: The various diseases diagnosed by BMA, BMI and BMB were megaloblastic anemia (19.6%), aplastic/ hypoplastic anemia (13.7%), iron deficiency anemia/ micronormoblastic erythroid hyperplasia (2.0%), dimorphic anemia (5.9%), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (2.0%), plasma cell dyscrasias (3.9%), Myeloproliferative disorders (3.9%), leukemia (15.7%), normocellular marrow (13.7%), metastasis (15.7%) and miscellaneous (3.9%). Conclusion: BMA is found to be the superior procedure for evaluation of hematological disorders compared to BMI and BMB.