INVIVO MEASUREMENTS OF BONE-MARROW CELLULARITY USING VOLUME-LOCALIZED PROTON NMR-SPECTROSCOPY

Volume‐localized proton NMR spectroscopy was used to estimate bone marrow cellularity in the posterior iliac crests of patients undergoing treatment with hematopoietic growth factors for a variety of hematologic and neoplastic disorders. Twelve patients were accrued, six of whom were studied more than once, yielding a total of 25 measurements. These data were compared to cellularity assessments derived from conventional bone marrow core biopsies obtained within a 24‐h period before or after the NMR exam. The results obtained by the two methods are well correlated (R = 0.94, P < 0.001), suggesting that this noninvasive technique may preclude the need for biopsies in some cases. © 1991 Academic Press, Inc. Copyright © 1991 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company