Duration | Bone Marrow Puncture

Duration

The total duration of a bone marrow puncture with clarification discussion, preliminary examination and execution of the puncture can take several days. If a laboratory also carries out a detailed examination, it may take several weeks before the final results are obtained. However, if one considers only the duration of the procedure with preparation and subsequent resting phase, the procedure usually does not take much longer than one hour.

The actual puncture does not even represent half of the time. However, one should not put a lot of strain on oneself on the day of the procedure. The actual bone marrow puncture takes between ten and twenty minutes.

Costs

The costs of a bone marrow puncture are covered by health insurance. A bone marrow puncture with a needle costs about 12€, regardless of whether it is performed in the iliac crest or the sternum. In contrast, bone marrow puncture with a punch is slightly more expensive.

Thereby costs of about 17,5€ are incurred. For privately insured patients, the doctor may charge a higher rate if necessary. In addition to these costs there are further costs for local anaesthesia, a sedative and the subsequent evaluation in the laboratory or by the pathologist. This can increase the costs many times over.

How long will I be sick afterwards?

After a bone marrow puncture is performed, one is usually not ill, but is directly considered healthy with regard to the puncture. Nevertheless, a light compression bandage should be worn for up to twenty minutes after the puncture to keep the risk of bleeding low. In addition, the body should be spared for 24 hours after the bone marrow puncture and no strenuous physical work should be performed.

After taking a sedative tablet, you should continue to avoid active traffic for 24 hours. To prevent infection of the bone marrow, care must also be taken to keep the wound clean and not to bathe for three days. In most cases, however, a bone marrow puncture is carried out as part of another illness for clarification or further therapy planning, which is why the individual status of health naturally also depends on it and must be assessed by the treating physician in each individual case.