BACKGROUND/AIMS

Bone marrow aspiration (BMA) is a common and useful investigation tool in clinical practice that helps gather information about both hematological and nonhematological disorders. Against this backdrop, the aim of this work was to identify the main indications for BMA tertiary hospital and to determine the common diagnoses encountered.

MATERIAL and METHODS

This was a prospective laboratory-based study conducted in a tertiary hospital, from December 2015 to August 2017. BMA was carried out in 204 cases of suspected hematologic disorders. The information extracted was inclusive of the main indications for performing the procedure, the age groups involved, as well as the most common diagnoses established. In addition, a specially designed form was used for this purpose, after which the data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences computer program.

RESULTS

Two hundred and four cases of BMA were performed and analyzed. The most patients (30.4%) were aged 15-30 years, of which 62.7% were males and 37.3% were females. This resulted in a male-to-female ratio of 1.7:1.0. The most frequent indications were found to be pancytopenia (48.1%), suspected leukemia (26.5%), and unexplained splenomegaly (8.3%). Hypersplenism was the most common diagnosis (20.1%) followed by visceral leishmaniasis (15.2%) of the cases. 16 (7.8%) of the aspirates revealed a normally functioning marrow.

CONCLUSION

BMA assumes importance in the context of establishing the diagnosis in several medical conditions. The most common indication for this procedure was pancytopenia, while the most common finding was hypersplenism.

Keywords: Bone marrow aspiration, diagnostic role, hematological disorders