title: Central review of bone marrow biopsy specimens from patients with neuroblastoma.
abstract: In order to achieve some uniformity in histological detection of bone marrow infiltration by neuroblastoma and to provide a measure of variation in histological opinions, sections from 712 evaluable trephine biopsy cores from children in a European Neuroblastoma Study Group (ENSG) study were reviewed centrally. Biopsy specimens were graded as tumour positive or negative. Discordance between local and central review opinions was found in 5% of specimens. Only five of 165 children at presentation and nine of 256 re-staging procedures in 126 children, affecting one child each, had their diagnosis upgraded to positive. In six re-staging procedures, affecting one child each, the diagnosis was downgraded. The low discordance rate is encouraging and substantially less important than previously documented difficulties in obtaining adequate specimens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Reid
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roald
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D001856:Bone Marrow Examination; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000473:pathology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D012189:Retrospective Studies