Bone Marrow Culture

Specimen Required

Bone marrow aspiration in a set of blood culture bottles and/or in a yellow top/SPS tube. (The collection of both is preferable.)

Specimen Minimum Volume

2.0 mL

Specimen Stability Information

Transport at room temperature. Yellow top tubes must be received within 2 hours of collection. *NOTE* Specimens that do not meet the above criteria will be rejected.

Special Instructions

Bone marrow collected in a yellow top tube is also acceptable for AFB and fungal cultures. Exam includes a direct smear (gram stain). nnCollection protocol:nCarefully disinfect the skin in the area to be sampled, as you would for a blood culture collection, using an antiseptic scrub for disinfection of the skin (see blood culture collection protocols). Carefully disinfect the tops of the blood culture bottles and/or Vacutainer tubes using the same procedure as for disinfecting the skin. Collect the specimen with a sterile disposable needle and syringe and aseptically transfer the specimen to the following:n – For bacterial culture: inoculate both 80A and 80N culture bottles and a yellow top/SPS tube. 1-5 mL of specimen is required for each culture bottle (a larger inoculum is optimal for organism recovery) and these should be inoculated first. Any remaining specimen should then be transferred to the Vacutainer tube.n – For fungal culture (see fungal blood culture): transfer 1-5 mL of specimen to a yellow top/SPS tube.n – For AFB culture (see AFB blood culture): transfer 1-5 mL of specimen to a yellow top/SPS tube.nNOTE – If multiple culture types are requested, a single Vacutainer tube may be collected, however a minimum of 2 mL of specimen is required for each culture desired.

Performing Laboratory

7 a.m. – 9 p.m. Turn around time is 30 days.