Clinical experience with a new specimen capturing bone marrow biopsy needle

The SNARECOIL (TM) needle is a specimen capturing bone marrow biopsy needle that incorporates a tiny internal capturing coil. It was developed to mini mize postinsertion needle manipulation and to facilitate specimen recovery. Forty-four patients underwent 50 bone marrow biopsy procedures with the SN ARECOIL needle for a variety of hematologic indications. Second and third p rocedures were done for follow-up or staging. Each procedure retrieved a sp ecimen with an average length of 2.1 cm. Fifty-two percent of the specimens were greater than or equal to2.0 cm in length. The majority of specimens d emonstrated intact marrow architecture enabling a pathologic diagnosis in e very case. Delicate cores of nontrabeculated marrow were recovered in three cases. The SNARECOIL bone marrow biopsy needle reliably retrieves intact b one marrow core specimens for pathologic interpretation. (C) 2001 Wiley-Lis s, Inc.