Haematology is a branch of internal medicine, which deals in particular with the teaching of the healthy functioning of the blood system and, in turn, of diseases in the blood. Haematology is one of the more complex areas of internal medicine, since knowledge about the malfunctioning of the blood system is in the early stages of therapy and usually involves the finest cellular processes that are not yet fully understood. In the following you will find an overview of the most important diseases in haematology.
Hematooncology
In some clinics, the field of haematology and oncology (teaching of tumour development) is combined into the superordinate field of haematooncology, as haematology deals in particular with the various forms of leukaemia (blood cancer) and lymphomas (lymph gland cancer). The most important hemato-oncological diseases are
- Acute myelogenous leukaemia
- Chronic myelogenous leukaemia
- Acute lymphatic leukemia
- Chronic lymphatic leukemia
- Lymphoma
Epidemiology
Overall, diseases of the haematological form/diseases in the blood are relatively rare. Anemia is an exception. These occur relatively frequently, especially iron deficiency anaemia, which accounts for up to 80% of anaemias.
Leukaemia and lymphomas make up a relatively small proportion of the total number of diseases. Their frequency peaks at about 1-2 per 100 000 cases per year. Most leukaemias occur in middle to old age. An exception is acute lymphatic leukaemia, which is the most common leukaemia in children.
Important diseases of the blood
Thrombocytes are components of the blood along with erythrocytes and leukocytes. Factor 5 Leiden, also known as APC resistance, is a disease that affects the body’s so-called coagulation system. The coagulation system ensures that if an injury occurs, the blood coagulates quickly, the bleeding is stopped and the wound can heal.
The so-called factor 5 is a specific protein that is largely responsible for the course of blood clotting. Factor 5 disease is a mutation in a gene that is responsible for the expression of this factor. Due to this mutation, the factor is still present, but can no longer be cleaved by the so-called “activated protein C”. The activated protein C, or APC for short, normally ensures that blood clotting does not take place too quickly and strongly by splitting factor 5 and thus rendering it ineffective.
Thalassemia
Thalassemia is an inherited disease of the red blood cells. The haemoglobin, an iron-containing protein complex responsible for the red blood cells’ ability to bind oxygen, is defective. It is not produced in sufficient quantities or is broken down in greater quantities, resulting in a haemoglobin deficiency.
Depending on the severity of thalassemia, this is a serious disease that can be fatal if left untreated in early childhood. Thalassemia is particularly common in the Mediterranean region. This is where its name comes from, because thalassaemia means translated as “Mediterranean anaemia”.
It mainly affects people in former malaria areas, for example in Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Sardinia. This is because the mild form of thalassaemia has an evolutionary advantage in malaria diseases. The genetic defects in the red blood cells prevent the malaria pathogens from multiplying in the red blood cells.
As a result, humans had a survival advantage and thalassaemia was able to establish itself further in the course of evolution. Anemia is a common symptom. Anemia can be divided into different forms: In the respective topic you will learn more about diagnosis, cause and specific therapy. – Iron deficiency anaemia
- Megaloblastic anemia
- Pernicious anemia
- Haemolytic anaemia
- Aplastic anemia
The symptoms of haematological diseases/diseases in the blood are often very unspecific and manifest themselves predominantly as:
- Paleness
- Tiredness
- Lack of concentration
- Reduction in performance
- Increased susceptibility to infections and
- Increased bleeding propensity.
