Species:
All species
Specimen:
Bone marrow aspirate
Container:
EDTA bone marrow, direct smears of bone marrow, EDTA blood
Collection protocol:
- Collect using standard techniques with appropriate sedation/anaesthesia/analgesia.
- Preferred sampling sites:
- Dogs - The iliac crest and humeral head are preferred sites
- Larger cats - The iliac crest and proximal femur
- Smaller cats or neonates - proximal femur
- Horses and ruminants - sternal vertebra
- It is always recommended to obtain both a needle aspirate for cytology and core biopsy for histopathology.
- Make several direct smears of the aspirated marrow and place the remainder in an EDTA tube.
- Bone marrow aspirates/biopsies must be interpreted with a concurrent full blood examination (FBE) - please submit EDTA blood. The FBE is included in the bone marrow cytology fee.
- Provide a thorough clinical history and reference to any previous bloodwork that has been submitted.
Special handling/shipping requirements:
Do not ship cytology specimens with formalin samples. Wrap and bag separately. The formalin fumes prevent cellular uptake of differential stains rendering the slides non-diagnostic.