title: A comparison of two techniques of preparing bone marrow aspirate slides.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare direct smear technique with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) preserved smear technique in terms of preparing bone marrow aspirate slides.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective study was carried out between September 2009 and July 2012 at the Haematology/Oncology Department, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a standard gauge disposable bone marrow aspirate needle, 0.5 to 1.0 ml bone marrow was aspirated with a 10ml syringe. Half of the marrow was immediately transferred to an EDTA tube with gentle mixing, while slides were prepared directly from the rest of the sample in the syringe. The tube sample was used to prepare slides at the end of the procedure. A score of 1-4 was assigned to each slide depending on the quality and number of particles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 245 bone marrow aspirate samples were evaluated related to 216 patients. Of the total, 238 (97%) samples were included in the study. The mean score for the direct smear group was 3.40±0.79 and for the EDTA smear group it was 3.34±0.75 (p=0.27), which was not statistically significant. An informal comparison of the morphological analysis of the samples did not reveal any differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bone marrow aspirate slides prepared at the end of the procedure from EDTA preserved samples were not inferior to slides prepared directly from the aspirated sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Haematology/Oncology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Aamer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aleem
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Haematology/Oncology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Khalid
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alsaleh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Division of Haematopathology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aljabry
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine and King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Shahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University of Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Zafar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Haematology/Oncology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulkareem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almomen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D004492:Edetic Acid; D005260:Female; D016591:Histocytological Preparation Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004492:Edetic Acid
keywords: Bone marrow aspirate, Direct smear, EDTA smear.