The purpose of this paper is to present some of the advantages of examining sections
of bone marrow. For this study the impression received by examining 155 bone marrow
smears from 154 patients are compaired with information gathered from sections of this
marrow. Forty eight of the sections were of insufficient quantity for proper evaluation.
Failure of the aspiration is probably related to both the individual's technique and the
disease.
The determination of cellularity made from smears were apparently wrong in 38 out
of 110 of these cases. In 9 cases, the misinterpretation was considered extremely serious
as hypercellular marrow was misjudged to be hypocellular. This was largely due to
small amount of marrow being diluted with peripheral blood. In roll cases, if the smear
appears to be hypocellular, this should be confirmed by examination. This is especially
important when making a diagnosis of aplastic anemia.
Also found in the sections were 2 cases of metastatic carcinoma, 2 cases of malignant
lymphoma, and 4 cases of mucinous degeneration of the stromal adipose tissue, all of
which were impossible to be diagnosed on the smear. In addition, the section is good
for evaluation of the number of the megakaryocytes and mitotic figures, and for some
extra-hematopoietic cells or tissues besides those of malignant origin.
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