Non-neoplastic Bone Marrow Lesions in an Adult Population in Two Tertiary Institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria

Introduction: Bone marrow biopsy is used to evaluate patients with both haematological and non-haematological pathologies. Non-neoplastic lesions of the marrow could be reactive, hypoproliferative or infiltrative.

Aim: To establish the role of bone marrow biopsy in the management of haematological and non-haematological non-neoplastic disorders in an adult population.

Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study, spanning from January 2017 to December 2023. All consecutive bone marrow biopsy samples of adults 20 years and above with non-neoplastic pathologies within the study period were included in this study.

Results: During the study period, January 2017 to December 2023, a total of 115 bone marrow biopsies were done in adult patients 20 years and above. Chronic anaemia was the most common indication. The commonest histological diagnosis was erythroid hyperplasia followed by
hypoproliferative anaemia. One hundred and two bone marrow biopsies submitted for histology out of the 115 samples had pathological diagnoses. This gives a diagnostic utility of 88.7%. There was 89.6% concordance between bone marrow biopsy and bone marrow aspirate.

Conclusion: Bone marrow biopsy is important in the diagnoses of non-neoplastic diseases in adults and doctors should be encouraged to employ it in patient management.