Contribution of IgH-PCR to the evaluation of B-cell lymphoma involvement in paraffin-embedded bone marrow biopsy specimens.

We investigated whether the determination of clonality by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangements could be helpful in the evaluation of B-cell lymphoma (BCL) involvement of bone marrow (BM) biopsy specimens. We evaluated 83 paraffin-embedded BM biopsy specimens from 26 patients with BCL. When BM biopsy specimens considered positive, "suspicious," or negative by morphologic and immunohistochemical examination were evaluated by PCR, a monoclonal B-cell population was detected in 81% (39/48), 64% (9/14), and 11% (2/18), respectively. In most cases, a reproducible monoclonal IgH gene rearrangement was observed from BM and extramedullary sites. Nevertheless, in 4 cases, a different and independent monoclonal IgH rearrangement was observed during the disease course. PCR is efficient and complementary to morphologic and immunohistochemical examination for the evaluation of BCL involvement of BM biopsy specimens, especially when a reproducible rearrangement is found in 2 different samples.