[Histological differences between sternal and iliac bone marrow in various hematological diseases].

Even in normal state, hematopoietic activity is different in terms of the site of bone marrow as well as age. The activity may also differ with bone marrow site in various hematological diseases. We chose 32 cases with various hematological diseases and examined their bone marrow histologically at two different sites (sternum and posterior iliac crest) at almost the same time. We studied the histological differences in 5 cases of malignant lymphoma, 15 cases of aplastic anemia, 8 cases of myelodysplastic syndrome, 2 cases of myeloproliferative syndrome and 2 cases of acute leukemia. In malignant lymphoma, the iliac marrow was slightly hypoplastic compared with sternal marrow but there were no differences in the components of hematopoietic cells, that were thought to reflect normal hematopoietic activity for their respective ages. In 5 among 15 cases of aplastic anemia, nodular hyperplastic areas were observed in sternal marrow even though iliac marrow was severely hypoplastic. The presence of a nodular hyperplastic area is useful for differential diagnosis between aplastic anemia and refractory anemia, because such a histological change was not observed in the cases of refractory anemia. In myeloproliferative syndrome and acute leukemia, there were no differences between sternal and iliac marrow. They were hyperplastic and had almost the same hematopoietic components.