Difference between BMB and BMA

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If you think of your bone marrow as a wet sponge, the liquid in the

sponge is what they remove when they do a bone marrow aspiration. For

a bone marrow biopsy, it would be like taking a tiny piece of the

actual sponge out.

You can have both procedures or just one, it depends on the doctor.

Both procedures start out the same way. They insert a hollow needle

into your bone. Then they put another needle inside that first

needle to suck out the liquid for an aspiration. For the biopsy

part, there's a little notch at the bottom of the needle that will

cut away a little piece of the marrow when the doctor turns the

needle, kind of like how a cheese grater slices a piece of cheese.

Many doctors will only do the BMA but sometimes when they're trying

to do the aspiration, they end up getting a dry tap, in other words,

they don't get any marrow. If this happens, they'll usually do the

biopsy.

I've had both biopsies and aspirations and if the doctor is good at

it, it's really not a big deal. I've had mine without any sedation

at all but I know some people who have had terrible experiences with

it and insist on getting knocked out for them. I guess it's like

child birth, you can hear horror stories and you can hear stories of

the baby being born in a car on the way to the hospital.

Tracey