Hematology
Hematology private practice
Hematology is a branch of internal medicine that deals with diseases of the blood, blood-forming organs and the lymphatic system. These include diseases such as blood clotting disorders, anemia or, among the more serious ones, leukemia and lymphoma.
In most cases, after a routine blood test, patients are referred to hematology by the general practitioner or internal medicine in the event that the blood count showed some deviation, for example in terms of red and white blood cells or platelets.
In addition to variations in the blood count, a hematological examination may be necessary in the case of many other problems. If, for example, swelling of the lymph nodes or enlargement of the spleen was revealed during the physical examination, this field can still provide an explanation for the phenomenon.
In many cases, hematology helps in the diagnosis of certain diseases, and in many cases it can point the way for other specialties, so it may happen that someone has an autoimmune disease or a change that does not require treatment.
What kind of problems can a hematologist doctor treat?
As it has already become clear from the above: patients are usually referred to hematology after a general family doctor or internal medicine appointment. Nevertheless, there are symptoms that, especially in the case of a cumulative appearance, can often indicate that the patient needs a hematological examination. These symptoms include:
- abnormalities in the blood count;
- iron deficiency and anemia;
- general and unrelenting fatigue, weakness, malaise;
- pale, often itchy, dry skin, split hair and nails;
- frequent dizziness, headache, migraine, feeling sick, fainting or near fainting;
- persistent insomnia, sleep problems, restless sleep;
- enlarged but not painful lymph nodes and spleen;
- permanent decrease in the ability to concentrate, attention deficit.
At hematology, the patient can expect not only a diagnosis, but also the treatment of existing diseases. What changes belong to this branch? Let's see the most common ones:
Anemia
Anemia is a gradually developing disease that does not cause symptoms for a long time. When it develops, the number of red blood cells drops below the limit, which makes the patient tired, pale, unable to concentrate, ringing in the ears, always exhausted, and so on.
Blood clotting disorder
We speak of a blood coagulation disorder when the body produces too much or too little of the substance responsible for blood clotting, which can cause the patient to become excessively hemostatic, or, on the contrary, blood clots can form in the vascular system.
Thrombosis
Thrombosis is one of the consequences of a blood clotting disorder, which often appears unnoticed in the body. As part of it, a blood clot forms in the vascular system, which blocks the path of blood, and this can even cause death in certain parts of the body.
Leukemia
Leukemia is one of the most serious diseases that hematology deals with. A cancerous lesion that affects the bone marrow, and based on the blood count, a problem with the white blood cell count may indicate it. It does not cause symptoms for a long time, but later fever, weight loss, swollen lymph nodes, bone pain, and swelling of the spleen and liver appear.
Lymphoma
It is also a cancer that attacks the cells of the lymphatic system, which is why they start to grow, which produces visible and palpable symptoms. Early complaints include recurrent fever, frequent sweating, fatigue, cough and loss of appetite, as well as weight loss.
What happens during a hematology examination?
The first step of the hematological examination is always the discovery of the patient's medical history. Since the patient usually comes from internal medicine, he will definitely have a lab result in his hand, which, in addition to studying, the attending physician will need a lot of other information about the patient.
It is also necessary, for example, to reveal the hematological problems of close relatives, the characteristics of the symptoms, and only then can the physical examination take place, as part of which the specialist typically only checks the condition of the lymph nodes and the spleen. If the lymph nodes or the spleen are larger than normal, there is almost always a hematological disease in the background, which will require a special blood test and further tests to reveal it.
Blood sampling is one of the most important tools in the hematologist's hands, which shows the deviations that are often not detected by routine blood sampling. Of course, the changes do not always mean a hematological disease, so some kind of infection or autoimmune disease may also be behind it. However, in order to clarify this, it is necessary to check with a hematologist, who can refer the patient to gastroenterology, for example.
However, if the abnormalities in the blood count indicate hematological diseases, it may be necessary to use various imaging procedures, such as ultrasound, CT or MR examination.
In more serious cases or for more targeted results, cytological sampling and histological analysis of the bone marrow and lymph nodes may sometimes be necessary, so that a more accurate diagnosis can be made and more targeted treatment can be started.
