Bone marrow biopsies performed by both the powered OnControl drill device and the Jamshidi needle produce adequate specimens.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the adequacy and quality of the bone marrow (BM) obtained by OnControl powered drill (P-group) and to compare it with manual procedure (M-group).

Design: Retrospective analysis was done on 75 BM specimens; Jamshidi needle (n=44) and OnControl (n=31). Biopsy length after fixation, evaluable marrow length and total area, and fragmentation, aspiration and marrow dropout artefacts were compared.

Results: Biopsies were sufficient for diagnosis in 38/44 cases (86%) in the M-group and in 26/31 cases (83%) in the P-group. The most common reason for suboptimal/inadequate biopsies was subcortical specimens (4/6) in the M-group and aspiration artefact (5/5) in the P-group. Average length after fixation, evaluable marrow length, evaluable marrow area was comparable. Aspiration artefact was minimal (<10%) in the majority of BM samples in the M-group (31/44), while 25/31 BM in the P-group showed >10% aspiration artefact, p<0.0001.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that quality of biopsy cylinder and adequacy rate of the biopsy is comparable between both devices. OnControl device showed more aspiration artefact.