Bone Edema in son's foot, Why a bone marrow biopsy?

My son is 4 and he has pain in his foot at night since he learned how to walk, We took him back and forth to the doctors and they kept saying that it was "growing pains". This year we took him to another hospital and they took and X-ray, it came back normal so they did a MRI, they said that the actual bone in his foot is swollen and that they suspect that theyere is something wrong with his bone marrow. So they are doing surgery where they drill 4-6 holes in to the bone to relieve pressure and taking a bone marrow biopsy then casting it for a few weeks. My questions are what would they be looking for in the bone marrow biopsy and has anyone else heard of this.?

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

Bone marrow biopsy is required to diagnose tumors or cancers involving bones.

Whenever there is abnormal number of white or red blood cells on a complete blood count and also abnormal peripheral smears a bone marrow biopsy is done.

It is also done for diseases in the bone marrow, (including cancer), or in certain types of anemia.

Follow up with his pediatrician for proper diagnosis.

Take care!