Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 11/26/2007

Question
my niece who is 18 had a bone marrow biopsy last year while she was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy for Burkitt's Lymphoma. They told my sister and brother-in-law
that they were going to give her something so she wouldn't remember the biopsy afterwards but that she would scream and my sister and brother-in-law listened to her scream and scream.  I don't understand what was it they gave her, but why didn't they just put her to sleep.
Thank you.

Answer
I can't answer why they didn't put her to sleep (likely because the whole procedure took less than 5 minutes). The drug they gave her is an amnestic and the likelihood is that she didn't remember it. I more wonder why they let the parents be close enough to hear the screams since these procedures are stressful on parents as well as the patient and we don't give medicine to the parents!

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston