Comparative Analysis of Bone Marrow Aspiration Smears, Touch Imprints and Trephine Biopsy in Haematological Malignancies

Introduction: Inspection of the bone marrow is considered one of the most valuable diagnostic tool to evaluate hematologic malignancies. This study compares all three techniques of bone marrow aspiration (BMA), bone marrow imprint (BMI) and bone marrow biopsy (BMB) in morphological diagnosis of hematological malignancies. Material and methods: The study was conducted on 63 selected cases of various hematological malignancies. Only those cases in which bone marrow examination was done by using all the three techniques were included in the study. Results: Out of total 63 cases,53 cases were diagnosed on bone marrow aspirate smears with diagnostic accuracy of 84.12%, 60 cases were diagnosed on bone marrow imprint smears with diagnostic accuracy of 95.23% and all 63 cases were diagnosed on bone marrow biopsy with diagnostic accuracy of 100%. Conclusion: It is concluded that bone marrow imprints are equally useful as bone marrow biopsy in diagnosing hematological malignancies. Imprint cytology should therefore be a standard practice for evaluating bone marrow in cases of hematological malignancies.