Blood and Lymphatic System Terms
Blood cells, bone marrow, lymph nodes, clotting, and related conditions. Browse definitions and meanings below.
What is hematology?
Hematology is the study of blood, the bone marrow producing it, and the lymphatic system running alongside it. It covers the cells, the proteins that make blood clot, and the conditions arising when any of those are too few, too many, or malformed.
Much of the vocabulary rests on Greek roots that recur predictably. The ending -penia means too few and -cytosis too many, so leukopenia and leukocytosis are opposite findings about one cell type. The ending -emia refers to something present in the blood, as in anemia and bacteremia.
Terms in this topic
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A system used to group human blood into different types, based on the presence or absence of certain markers on the surface of red blood cells.
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A substance being studied in the treatment of lymphomas and other types of cancer.
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Four drugs chosen as much for what they avoid as for what they do, because the disease is usually cured and survivors live decades.
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An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used to treat Hodgkin lymphoma.
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An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used with radiation therapy to treat low-risk childhood Hodgkin lymphoma.
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An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used with radiation therapy to treat low-risk childhood Hodgkin lymphoma.
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An abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination used with radiation therapy to treat low-risk childhood Hodgkin lymphoma.
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A rare disorder in which the bone marrow makes almost no red blood cells.
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Immature blood cells fill the marrow, so the illness comes from what is missing rather than from what is present.
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An aggressive (fast-growing) type of leukemia (blood cancer) in which too many lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the blood and bone marrow.
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An aggressive (fast-growing) type of leukemia (blood cancer) in which too many lymphoblasts (immature white blood cells) are found in the blood and bone marrow.
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An aggressive (fast-growing) disease in which too many myeloblasts (immature white blood cells that are not lymphoblasts) are found in the bone marrow and blood.
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The damage comes less from the tumor itself than from what stops being made once the marrow fills with blasts.
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An aggressive (fast-growing) disease in which too many myeloblasts (immature white blood cells that are not lymphoblasts) are found in the bone marrow and blood.
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Adenopathy refers to enlarged lymph nodes, a finding that can result from infection, inflammation, or, less often, a malignant process.
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An aggressive (fast-growing) type of T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma caused by the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1).
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A type of lymphoma that grows and spreads quickly and has severe symptoms.
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A progressive, chronic disease in which the bone marrow is replaced by fibrous tissue and blood is made in organs such as the liver and the spleen, instead of in the bone marrow.
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A drug that is used to treat certain skin conditions and is being studied in the treatment of cutaneous (skin-related) T-cell cancer and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
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A procedure in which a person receives stem cells (cells from which all blood cells develop) from a genetically similar, but not identical, donor.