Abstract:
Nutritional anemia, particularly iron de�ciency, continues to be a major
public health problem worldwide, particularly in the developing countries like India.
Although mass spectrometry has been recently used to give a de�nitive
determination of iron in tissue, microscopic examination of Prussian blue stained
bone marrow aspirate has been considered the practical “gold standard” for
determining iron depleted states. Aim: To assess the bone marrow iron stores among
the various haematological disorders. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional
observational study was conducted by the department of pathology at Shri B.M. Patil
Medical College, Hospital and Research centre, Vijayapur for a period of one year. A
total of 110 cases of various hematological disorders were studied to assess the bone
marrow iron stores. Bone marrow aspirate was obtained after written informed
consent from the posterior superior iliac spine observing strict asepsis, spread onto
slides, air dried, �xed with methanol, and stained with Giemsa Stain, observed
microscopically and also simultaneously one smear stained with Prussian blue stain.
Equal volumes of 2% of potassium ferrocynide and 2% hydrochloric acid solution are
mixed in staining jar and slides are immersed in the solution for 15 20 min.
