Bone Marrow Biopsy

[NIZU]

Hi

I recently got an email with the results of my bone marrow biopsy saying:
"Variably cellular marrow (30-50%) with active trilineage hematopoiesis"

Does anyone knows what this means?

[DanL]

The wording itself just means that all three blood lines are being produced, and that the density of your marrow varies from spot to spot to between 30% and 50%.

To find out what your cellularity should be, the rule of thumb is that you take 100 and subtract your age. Example: I am 43 years old so you would subtract 43 from 100 and you would expect my bone marrow to be at about 57% cellularity to be considered normal.

If you are within 10% of that range, your marrow would be considered more or less normal cellularity.

The patchiness could range from benign to an issue caused by medication or temporary illness, or could indicate something more serious. More information would be required.

As with just about any information, the best advice here is to ask your doctor and see if they have any theories or additional information that can help you out with what this means.

Dan