Hematology

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, with the latter of these two conditions being continuously studied by hematologists due to its unknown cause.
• treating hematological malignancies such as lymphoma and leukemia (cancers)
• treating hemoglobinopathies, including α-thalassemias and β-thalassemias (thalassemia syndromes) and hemoglobin S, hemoglobin C, and hemoglobin E (abnormal hemoglobins).
• the science of blood transfusion and the work of a blood bank, known as transfusion medicine
• bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, especially with the use of technologies to extract and isolate hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs).