According to NCCN guidelines, excisional or incisional biopsy is recommended for the diagnosis of MCL where feasible. ESMO guidelines note that a core biopsy should only be used in cases where patients' lymph nodes are not accessible. Fine needle aspiration alone is typically inadequate and does not provide sufficient information for additional assessments required to establish the diagnosis (eg, cytology and cell proliferation), per the same guidelines.
Bone marrow involvement is common in MCL, and a bone marrow biopsy should be a component of the workup if additional diagnostic measures are applied; it should not be the sole basis for diagnosis in the majority of patients, though. However, MCL has a highly heterogenous presentation, and in the rare cases where there is only leukemic presentation, a bone marrow biopsy alone may be adequate.
Learn more about MCL.
Medscape © 2023 WebMD, LLC
Any views expressed above are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of WebMD or Medscape.
Cite this: Ann S. LaCasce. Fast Five Quiz: Mantle Cell Lymphoma Workup - Medscape - Feb 08, 2023.
Comments