Bone Marrow Aspiration: A Method to Obtain Bone Marrow to Examine Cell Morphology

Abstract

Source: Cloos, J. et al. Comprehensive Protocol to Sample and Process Bone Marrow for Measuring Measurable Residual Disease and Leukemic Stem Cells in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. J. Vis. Exp. (2018).

This video describes the technique of aspirating bone marrow from iliac spine and smear preparation for biopsy. In the example, we perform bone marrow aspiration from an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient and examine the cells to check for measurable residual disease (MRD), an important prognostic biomarker.

Protocol

All procedures involving human participants have been performed in compliance with the institutional, national, and international guidelines for human welfare and have been reviewed by the local institutional review board.

1. Bone marrow aspiration and sample preparation

1. Patient and material preparation
   1. Fill one or two 10 mL syringes with 1% lidocaine using a 16-gauge needle. Replace the needle for a 21-gauge needle.
   2. Put two drops of 5% EDTA on a watch-glass.
   3. Set up glass slides (n=15 with consistent patient numbering and date) for the smear preparations.
   4. Place patien....

Results

Figure 1: Bone marrow smear. A) healthy donor and B) AML patient (FAB 5 subtype). Giemsa stain shown at 100x magnification. Please click h.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
May Giemsa Grünwald 	Merck	 1.01424.2500