The key difference between lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy is that lumbar puncture is a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canal to collect cerebrospinal fluid, while bone marrow biopsy is a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the bone marrow to collect a sample of solid bone marrow tissue.
Lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy are two medical procedures used in diagnostic testing, such as cancer detection. Both are popular laboratory techniques performed by qualified technicians. However, they carry some risks, such as excessive bleeding, infection, etc.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Lumbar Puncture
3. What is Bone Marrow Biopsy
4. Similarities – Lumbar Puncture and Bone Marrow Biopsy
5. Lumbar Puncture vs Bone Marrow Biopsy in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Lumbar Puncture vs Bone Marrow Biopsy
What is Lumbar Puncture?
A lumbar puncture is a medical procedure to diagnose certain health conditions. It is also known as a spinal tap. This procedure is performed on the lower back of people. This region is called the lumbar region. During this procedure, a needle is inserted into the space between two lumbar bones in order to remove a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the brain and spinal cord to protect them from injuries.
A lumbar puncture can help diagnose serious conditions like meningitis, encephalitis, other disorders of the central nervous system like Guillain-Barre syndrome, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune neurological conditions, Alzheimer’s disease, and other types of dementia, bleeding, tumors of the brain and spinal cord, and syphilis. Moreover, this technique sometimes is used to inject anesthetic medications or chemotherapy drugs into the CSF. Though the lumbar puncture technique is recognized as safe, it carries some risks, such as post-lumbar puncture headache, back discomfort or pain, bleeding, and brainstem herniation.
What is Bone Marrow Biopsy?
Bone marrow biopsy is a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the bone marrow to collect a sample of solid bone marrow tissue for diagnostic testing. It is done to diagnose conditions such as anemia, leukopenia, leukocytosis, thrombocytopenia, thrombocytosis, pancytopenia, polycythemia, metastatic breast cancer, hemochromatosis, and fevers of unknown origin.
Bone marrow biopsy is performed at the same time as bone marrow aspiration to collect samples and examine bone marrow. In bone marrow aspiration, a liquid sample of bone marrow is taken, while in bone marrow biopsy, a solid sample of the bone marrow is taken. Typically, the procedure begins with bone marrow aspiration and is followed by bone marrow biopsy.
Furthermore, the risks associated with bone marrow biopsy include excessive bleeding, infection at the skin site, long last discomfort at the bone marrow exam site, and heart or lung problems.
What are the Similarities Between Lumbar Puncture and Bone Marrow Biopsy?
- Lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy are two medical procedures used in diagnostic testing, such as cancer detection.
- Both techniques use needles to collect respective samples.
- They are popular laboratory techniques performed by qualified technicians.
- Both techniques carry some risks.
What is the Difference Between Lumbar Puncture and Bone Marrow Biopsy?
Lumbar puncture is a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the spinal canal to collect cerebrospinal fluid for diagnostic testing, while bone marrow biopsy is a medical procedure in which a needle is inserted into the bone marrow to collect a sample of solid bone marrow tissue for diagnostic testing. Thus, this is the key difference between lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy. Furthermore, the cost of a lumbar puncture is around 423 US dollars, while the cost of a bone marrow biopsy is around 5254 US dollars.
The below infographic presents the differences between lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Lumbar Puncture vs Bone Marrow Biopsy
Lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy are two diagnostic tests to detect different serious medical conditions. Both techniques use needles to collect the respective samples in order to analyze them. However, lumbar puncture is a medical procedure to collect cerebrospinal fluid for diagnostic testing, while bone marrow biopsy is a medical procedure to collect a sample of solid bone marrow tissue for diagnostic testing. So, this summarizes the difference between lumbar puncture and bone marrow biopsy.
Reference:
1. “Lumbar Puncture (Spinal Tap).” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.
2. “Bone Marrow Biopsy: What It Is, Procedure & Results.” Cleveland Clinic.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Blausen 0617 LumbarPuncture” By BruceBlaus. Blausen.com staff (2014). “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. – Own work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Blausen 0097 BoneMarrowBiopsy” By Blausen Medical Communications, Inc. – (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia