Bone Marrow Biopsy Needle Type Affects Core Biopsy Specimen Length and Quality and Aspirate Hemodilution.

Objectives: Bone marrow biopsies are essential for evaluating patients with suspected or confirmed hematopoietic disorders or malignancies, but little is known about how biopsy needle type affects biopsy length and/or quality. We sought to compare bone marrow biopsy quality in specimens obtained with two different needles.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on bone marrow specimens obtained with manual single-bevel (n = 114) or triple-bevel (n = 166) needles.

New Insight Into the Biology, Risk Stratification, and Targeted Treatment of Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

In myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), somatic mutations occur in five major categories: RNA splicing, DNA methylation, activated cell signaling, myeloid transcription factors, and chromatin modifiers. Although many MDS cases harbor more than one somatic mutation, in general, there is mutual exclusivity of mutated genes within a class. In addition to the prognostic significance of individual somatic mutations, more somatic mutations in MDS have been associated with poor prognosis.