Abstract: Objective To evaluate the accuracy of bone marrow morphological examination in assessing bone marrow infiltration in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma（NHL）,and to evaluate the roles of bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow biopsyin the detection of bone marrow infiltration of NHL. Methods Totally,159 bone marrow specimens of patients with NHL were analyzed retrospectively. Their bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow biopsyin results were analyzed. The sensitivity,specificity,consistency and correlation of bone marrow aspiration in the detection of bone marrow infiltration of NHL were compared with those of bone marrow biopsyin. Results The consistency of bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow biopsyin was 83.6%. The sensitivity and specificity of bone marrow aspiration were 53.8% and 98.1%,respectively. For the bone marrow infiltration of indolent NHL,the sensitivity and specificity of bone marrow aspiration were 73.7% and 92.0%,respectively,while the sensitivity and specificity for the bone marrow infiltration of invasive NHL were 42.4% and 100.0%,respectively. Conclusions bone marrow aspiration is a useful method to detect bone marrow infiltration in NHL. It might be used as a supplementary measurement for bone marrow biopsyin with the advantages of easiness,rapidness and cost-effectiveness.

Key words: Bone marrow morphological examination, Morphology, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Bone marrow infiltration