What Is a Bone Marrow Aspirate and Biopsy?
Bone marrow is the spongy material found in the center of many bones in the body. The bone marrow is the substance that makes different types of blood cells.
A bone marrow aspirate and biopsy is done to see if the blood cells in your child's body are being properly made.
In this case, aspiration means taking out fluid by suction.
A biopsy is taking out a small piece of marrow tissue with a special biopsy needle.
Most of the time, this procedure is done under general anesthesia either in the clinic or in the operating room.
How Is a Bone Marrow Aspirate and Biopsy Test Done?
A small amount of numbing medicine is injected into your child's skin, so the test site will not hurt as much when your child wakes from anesthesia. It takes one to two minutes for the area to become numb.
After one to two minutes, a needle is placed into the bone marrow, and a small amount of marrow is pulled into a syringe. Then the needle is taken out, and this part of the test is over.
Bone marrow looks like blood in the syringe.
Bone Marrow Biopsy
The bone marrow biopsy is done after the bone marrow aspiration. A new, larger needle is inserted in the same place and it is pushed down until a small piece of bone is in the needle.
Once the piece of bone is in the needle, the doctor will remove the needle. Sometimes the doctor may decide they need another piece of the bone for the biopsy. There are several reasons why this might happen. The doctor doing the test will explain if this happens to your child.
After the Test
Pressure is applied to the site for one to two minutes after the test. A tight-fitting bandage is then put over the area where the test was done. The bandage should stay on for 24 hours and then it should be taken off.
The bone marrow sample will be studied under a microscope. Your child's doctor will have some of the test results for you within several hours. The biopsy results will take a couple of days to complete. It is normal for some of the results to come back weeks later. Your doctor will tell you when you can expect to get results. If you have questions, call your child's doctor.
