Hematology
Hematology, also spelled haematology,
is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause,
prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves
treating diseases that affect the production of blood and its components, such
as blood cells, hemoglobin, blood
proteins, bone marrow, platelets, blood vessels, spleen,
and the mechanism of coagulation. Such diseases might include hemophilia,
blood clots, other bleeding disorders and blood cancers such
as leukemia, multiple
myeloma, and lymphoma. The laboratory work that goes into the study of
blood is frequently performed by a medical technologist or medical laboratory scientist.
Specialization
Physicians specialized in
hematology are known as hematologists or haematologists. Their
routine work mainly includes the care and treatment of patients with
hematological diseases, although some may also work at the hematology
laboratory viewing blood films and bone marrow slides
under the microscope, interpreting various hematological test results
and blood clotting test results. In some
institutions, hematologists also manage the hematology laboratory. Physicians
who work in hematology laboratories, and most commonly manage them, are
pathologists specialized in the diagnosis of hematological diseases, referred
to as hematopathologists or haematopathologists. Hematologists
and hematopathologists generally work in conjunction to formulate a diagnosis
and deliver the most appropriate therapy if needed. Hematology is a distinct
subspecialty of internal medicine, separate from but overlapping with the
subspecialty of medical oncology. Hematologists may specialize further or have special
interests, for example, in:
·
treating bleeding disorders such as hemophilia and idiopathic
thrombocytopenic purpura
