During this procedure, a thin hollow needle with a syringe attachment is used to suction up, or aspirate, a teaspoon-sized sample of liquid bone marrow from the back of the hip bone. Microscopic examination is performed on samples of the bone marrow, as well as any samples of the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or lymph node tissue. Immature cells are undeveloped blood cells that, although poor infection-fighters, are still able to reproduce. Blast cells are the most immature form of bone marrow cells. Flow cytometry is a computer-assisted technique in which bone marrow or other cells are treated with special antibodies and then are placed in front of a laser beam.
Laser treatment makes the antibody-coated cells fluorescent.
The light that is given off undergoes computer measurement and analysis. Immunocytochemistry , like flow cytometry, uses antibodies to treat the bone marrow or biopsy samples. Yet unlike flow cytometry, computers and lasers are not needed for this procedure. Instead, the sample is prepared so that specific types of cells undergo a color change that can be identified under a microscope. Immunocytochemistry allows the pathologist to identify specific types of leukemia.