title: Adequacy of powered vs manual bone marrow biopsy specimens: a retrospective review of sequential marrow aspirates and biopsies in 68 patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the quality and quantity of the bone marrow aspirates and biopsy specimens obtained with a powered system in comparison with the standard manual method.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Pathology Laboratory Information System was reviewed for patients who had previously undergone bone marrow biopsies performed by both the OnControl Bone Marrow System and the manual method. A total of 136 cases (68 patients) were reviewed for adequacy and compared using an unpaired t test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The core biopsy specimens obtained by the OnControl system were significantly longer compared with those obtained by the manual system (16.9 vs 14.4 mm, P = .0036). However, the core biopsy specimens obtained by the manual method had on average more evaluable marrow elements (66% vs 40%, P < .0001), and the manual method was superior in 46 of the 68 cases when the length of evaluable marrow was calculated (9.7 vs 7 mm, P = .0049).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings show that longer core biopsy specimens are obtained by the OnControl Bone Marrow system but that the manual method is still superior when the percentage and length of evaluable bone marrow are analyzed.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Douglas W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Stauffer
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City. nancy-rosenthal@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Nancy S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
mesh_terms: D062005:Biopsy, Large-Core Needle / Q000379:methods*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D001856:Bone Marrow Examination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Bone marrow aspirate and biopsy; OnControl Bone Marrow System; Powered bone marrow system