hematologist
Meaning of hematologist: The specialist called when a routine blood count stops making sense, whether the answer turns out to be cancer or not.
Definition of hematologist
A hematologist is a physician who specializes in diseases of the blood and of the tissues that make it, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. The field covers anemia, disorders of clotting and of excessive bleeding, inherited conditions such as sickle cell disease and thalassemia, and cancers of the blood and marrow such as leukemia and lymphoma.
How hematologist is built
- hem/o, hemat/o Combining form · Greek blood
- -logist Suffix · Greek specialist in a field of study
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
What does the work involve?
Much of it is interpretation. A hematologist reads blood counts, examines a stained blood film for cells of abnormal size, shape or maturity, and orders the specialized tests that follow: clotting studies, iron and vitamin measurements, protein studies, and examination of the marrow itself obtained by bone marrow sampling from the back of the hip bone. Tests for surface markers on cells and for specific genetic changes are then used to name the exact disease. Alongside diagnosis sits long-term care, including transfusion, anticoagulation, treatment of inherited disorders, and bone marrow transplantation.
What kinds of problem reach a hematologist?
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Too few cells | Anemia, low platelets, low white cells |
| Too many cells | Raised red cell mass, raised platelets, raised white cells |
| Bleeding too readily | Hemophilia, von Willebrand disease, platelet function disorders |
| Clotting too readily | Deep vein thrombosis, inherited clotting tendencies |
| Blood and marrow cancers | Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, marrow failure syndromes |
| Inherited red cell disease | Sickle cell disease, thalassemia, enzyme deficiencies |
How does hematology relate to oncology?
The two overlap heavily. Blood cancers are diseases of blood cells and cancers at the same time, so many physicians train in both fields and practice as hematologist-oncologists, while others confine themselves to non-cancerous blood disorders or to a single area such as clotting or transfusion medicine. Which pattern is usual depends on the country and on the size of the hospital. Because blood tests are ordered across every part of medicine, hematologists are also consulted frequently by other teams to explain a result that turned up unexpectedly during an unrelated investigation, and a large share of referrals end with a benign explanation rather than a diagnosis of cancer.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The patient was referred to a hematologist after blood tests showed a persistently low platelet count.
Good to know
Many hematologists practice as hematologist-oncologists because blood cancers require expertise in both fields, though a large part of hematology concerns disorders that are not cancer at all.
Word origin
Where “hematologist” comes from
Formed from hemato-, from Greek haima, meaning blood, and -logist, from Greek logos, meaning one who studies.