Disclosures: Stephanie C. Clark, DO: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To evaluate the safety of ultrasound-guided bone marrow aspirate (BMA) for bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) procedures

Design: Retrospective chart review Setting : Single-site tertiary care academic medical center Participants : 194 subjects who underwent elective ultrasound-guided BMA harvests

Interventions: Ultrasound-guided BMA harvests performed by three investigators (JTf, JLS, JS)

Main Outcome Measures: Complications associated with the procedure and medical comorbidities

Results: 420 BMA harvests performed on 194 subjects were included in the study. The average age and body mass index were 63.2 (17 to 91) and 35.15 kg/m2 (18.83 to 44.30 kg/m2), respectively. There were 115 (59%) males and 79 (41%) females. Procedure location included 210 (50%) right and 210 (50%) left posterior superior iliac spines. All 420 procedures were performed using sterile gloves, sterile ultrasound gel, sterile ultrasound transducer cover, gown, cap and mask. All procedures were deemed successful with no immediate neurovascular injury or complications. Of the 420 BMA harvests, 294 (70%) had follow-up, and two complications of severe pain at the harvest sites were reported (incidence 0.007%). The two reported complications were associated with the same encounter (i.e. one patient), subsided with IV and oral pain medications, and there were no additional complications or long term sequelae reported. Of the 43 comorbidities, the seven most common were hypertension (37 [19%]), hyperlipidemia (34 [18%]), hypothyroidism (17 [9%]), obstructive sleep apnea (10 [5%]), atrial fibrillation (10 [5%]), diabetes mellitus (9 [5%]), and smoking (8 [4%]). Conclusions: This study suggests that ultrasound-guided BMA harvest is a safe procedure when performed by a physician with expertise in ultrasound-guided musculoskeletal procedures. As there were only two complications, we were unable to perform a sub-analysis to determine if there was an association between comorbid factors and increased complication rates. While ultrasound-guided BMA harvest appears to be safe, more research is needed to understand the risk factors for prolonged or severe post-procedure pain.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/a-single-site-retrospective-review-of-clinical-complications-from-ultrasound-guided-bone-marrow-aspirate-harvest/