[Bone-marrow biopsy in chronic myeloid leukemia. Value of the initial examination].

In 31 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, the initial bone marrow biopsy constantly showed considerable cell richness. The maturation of the granulocytes was harmonious in 52% of cases, with a predominance of myelocytes in 32% of cases, and groups of myeloblasts in 13% of cases. Eosinophilia was frequent and fairly intense. Fairly numerous loaded cells and Charcot-Leyden crystals were signs of granulocyte failure in the bone marrow. The erythroblasts were reduced, the megakaryocytes increased. Myelofibrosis was present in 45% of cases. This gave a very characteristic histological appearance. It was not possible to draw up correlations between the type of granulocyte maturation and/or the presence of myelofibrosis and, on the other hand, the clinical course of the disease, but the small number of case studied both in our series and in the literature do not permit one to carry out a proper statistical study.