Bone marrow morphology in multiple myeloma.

This study was undertaken at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, encompassing all patients of multiple myeloma presenting between January 01, 1982 and December 31, 1991. In all, 89 patients were included. The may Grunwald Giemsa stained bone marrow aspiration slides of each patient was examined under oil- immersion and a morphological grading made as mature (12 patients), immature (53) and plasmablastic (24). The estimated median survival for the mature category was 55 months, for immature 23 months and for plasmablastic two months. The estimated median survival on combining the mature of immature groups was 52 months, and on comparing this with the plasmablastic group, the difference in survival was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05).