Bone marrow is a soft and fatty tissue located within the porous bone structure at the centre of the larger bones. During bone marrow biopsies, also called trephine biopsies, a 1-2 cm long sample of the bone and bone marrow is taken to check, amongst others, for blood cell abnormalities. A Jamshidi needle is used to collect the bone marrow by pushing the needle through the rigid cortical outer layer of the bone such that it will be located within the softer cancellous bone. During retrieval of the needle, the biopsy sample sometimes remains inside the incision. This requires manual removal of the sample using forceps, and possibly a second biopsy has to be taken.

During this project, you would first look into current instruments used to perform a bone marrow biopsy after which you will design a novel device that could be used for harvesting bone marrow samples.

Interested? Contact Esther de Kater, e.p.dekater@tudelft.nl