I’ve had 3 bone marrow biopsys in the hip and they are extremely painful. Main reason, I believe is because its difficult to numb the area sufficiently and the bone is so deep. They can numb the area but once they get to the bone, the constant grinding back and forth attempting to get through the bone is painful. Every biopsy I have had, the individual performing the biopsy had difficulty getting through the bone. Either the tool would slip on the bone or they had difficulty boring through the bone. Not to mention the pain involved in extracting the marrow. Recently I was required to get another bone marrow and I told my Doctor no way I want to be put asleep. He told me that he would do the biopsy, and he would go through the sternum. I was anxious about this initially because I read all the negatives about the precision required in this type of biopsy but I believe in my Doctor so I did it. I have to say I was amazed because the entire process was done in like 10 minutes vs an hour to and hour in a half by the hip method and the sternum biopsy had very little pain.
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