Bone Marrow Biopsy

Rebecca had the bone marrow biopsy last Friday. The drug propofol was used. It was suppose to put her asleep but she said it didn’t. During the procedure she experienced a lot of pain in her lower spine where she has the most fractured vertebrae. She is still having this pain and concerned that the doctor re-fractured some of her vertebrae. There is a new device for doing bone marrow biopsies that may have worked better.  There are 50 centers using this new device that wouldn’t need near as much pressure to get into the bone.  http://www.vidacare.com/oncontrol/index.html


Before this procedure she had made the comment that her back didn’t hurt much when she walked a little bit. Now this has set her back again. She is still taking about 480 mg of oxyicotin a day.

It will take a couple of weeks to get the results back from the biopsy. Not sure it will tell us much. The genetic abnormalities of the myeloma plasma cell can provide some indications on which treatment plans might work better and the prognosis. How you respond to treatment may give about the same indicators so I am not sure how much value there is in knowing the specific genetic defects. With the low Freelite number she has I wouldn’t be surprised if this biopsy doesn’t capture many myeloma cells.