An improved technique of preparing bone-marrow specimens for cytogenetic analysis.

Sixty-six bone-marrow specimens, derived from patients with hematological and nonhematological disorders, were processed for cytogenetic analysis. Modifications of various parameters of the standard (direct) culture procedure were investigated and the quality of the preparations determined. As a result of these experiments, an improved culture technique was developed that yielded significantly better quality chromosome preparations. This method is based on a short incubation (25-min) of the bone-marrow specimen, immediately following aspiration, in a solution containing both hypotonic KCl and colcemid and completely omits the use of tissue culture medium.