Glycol methacrylate embedding of bone marrow cores.

The objective of the present study was to assess the use of glycol methacrylate (GMA) as an embedding medium for bone marrow biopsies. Paraffin-embedded bone marrow trephines, which are most widely used for diagnostic purposes, need to be decalcified prior to sectioning. This process has a number of effects, and results in interference with the evaluation of the bone marrow. Differentiation of some cases of hematological malignancies may be difficult in decalcified, paraffin-embedded bone marrow biopsy specimens, because of the reported inability to obtain reproducible blast counts, and because a considerable percentage of cells cannot be easily recognized. On the other hand, GMA-embedding of marrow cores, which obviates the need for decalcification, shows structural organization of the marrow and gives excellent cellular details. The simplicity of GMA embedding, short processing time and reproducibility, makes this method highly suitable for routine work in the hematology laboratory.