How do you do the test for bone marrow?

Question

How do you do the test for bone marrow?

Answer 1

You will either have a general anaesthetic so that you will fall fast asleep or will be given a tablet so that you become sleepy and relaxed. You will probably be asked to not eat and drink for a few hours beforehand - you will be told exactly how long.

You lie on your side and the sample is taken from the hip bone at the back. The skin is cleaned with antiseptic and then the doctor will put a needle into the hip and take a sample of bone marrow. You may feel some pressure when this done but it shouldn’t hurt. The needle is then removed and a plaster is put over the site. This can be taken off the next day.

It will probably feel as if someone has kicked you afterwards, but you will be given painkillers to help this. Let the doctor or nurse know if the area where the needle was put in becomes red or swollen or if it bleeds.

The results should be ready quite quickly in anywhere from a few hours to a day or so. Your doctor can tell you when the results will be ready.

Answer 2

The two bone marrow tests are aspiration (as-pi-RA-shun) and biopsy.

Bone marrow aspiration usually is done first. For this test, your doctor removes a small amount of fluid bone marrow through a needle. He or she may have some idea of what the problem is, and the sample gives him or her useful information about the cells in the marrow.

A bone marrow biopsy is a followup test. It's done when an aspiration doesn't give needed information. Or, it's done when the doctor wants to examine the bone marrow structure itself. For a bone marrow biopsy, your doctor removes a small amount of bone marrow tissue through a larger needle.

Answer 3

Whoa, whoa, whoa.  From the range of answers you're are getting, it is obvious that your question is not specific enough.

Let's clarify a little.

1.  The test to find out if you match someone for bone marrow or stem cell transplant is called an HLA test.  It can be done on a simple blood sample, or on a swab of cells from the inside of your cheek.

2.  A bone marrow aspirate and a bone marrow biopsy are done on a patient to help diagnose a problem in the bone marrow.  Leukemia, lymphoma invasion, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes, etc.  They are usually done together in one procedure.  

3.  Bone marrow donation, or stem cell donation:  Stem cell donation is much more common in the US.  Stem cells are collected from the peripheral blood by pheresis (connecting to a machine for cell separation).  Bone marrow is collected from the hip bones- both sides at once- using general anesthesia and multiple needle sticks.  Like doing several bone marrow aspirations in one session.  Both products are given to the patient by infusion into the vein.

Check out marrow.org for the most up-to-date information joining the registry and becoming a donor.  How many other chances will you get to save a life?

Well, you could donate blood and save a life every 6 weeks or so, too!

Answer 4

i thought they actually took a bone like hip..thats a big bone and scraped it..because i remember something where on tv they were going to test bone marrow and the mom asked if it would hurt her daughter and the docter said it might when they were scraping her bone that might have hurt..not 100% positive though..

Answer 5

Bone marrow donors start with a simple easy blood test. If a match is established then other test are done to ensure the best match. Bone marrow is extracted from the hip bone and given to a recipient in the same way as a blood transfusion.