Hematology

Blood cultures have always been a critical tool in the management of life-threatening conditions like septicemia, enteric fever, infective endocarditis, brucellosis etc. Manual or conventional blood cultures were performed by inoculating large volumes of blood into nutrient broth or biphasic media and repeated subcultures were performed to detect growth. Automated blood culture systems were introduced in early 1970’s. Today there are wide variety of systems available in the market. These have…

Blood transfusion is a surgical method used to transport blood to a patient’s circulation intravenously. It is used when a patient is suffering from severe blood loss; it can be from an accident or an operation done. Under most circumstances, anyone who is suffering from a deficiency of producing blood, bleeding disorders like thrombocytopenia or haemophilia or an illness that inflicts anemia; such as kidney disease or cancer would most certainly have to undergo blood transfusion due to the risk…

Pustular Psoriasis A pustular psoriasis is a rare form of psoriasis. It appears as a fine, clear raised bumps that are filled with a white and thick fluid which composed of white blood cells, called pus. The skin around these bumps and under these bumps is red. While yellow fluid is a common sign of infection, but there is no clear demonstration that this infection plays its role in pustular psoriasis. It is not contagious nor infection. It consists of widespread pustules (Pus) on an…

Blue People: Family of Troublesome Creek Martin Fugate and his wife Elizabeth Smith moved onto the bunks of Troublesome Creek, an area in Appalachian Kentucky. Martin and Elizabeth together had seven children. The family tried to hide out in the mountains because of the blood disorder that they carry with them. The blood disorder makes their skin turn blue. The blood disorder of how and why the family’s skin turns blue. Some facts about the blue people of Kentucky. The family has lived in the…

"Anemia is a reduction in the total number of erythrocytes in the circulating blood or a decrease in the quality or quantity of hemoglobin" (McCance & Huether, 2014, p.982). There are many causes of anemia and are classified in this manner. There are three classifications: macrocytic-normochromic anemia, microcytic-hypochromic anemia, and normocytic-normochromic anemia (McCance & Huether, 2014). Macrocytic-normochromic anemias encompass pernicious anemia and folate deficiency anemia (McCance &…

Ichthyosis is a rare genetic or acquired skin condition, classified under the “Disorders of Cornification” (NORD's Rare Disease Database, 2005) and is characterized by dry, thickened and scaling skin. There are many different forms of Ichthyosis, with some acquired types, disguisable from one another by the extent of scaling, the presence of reddening skin, how it was inherited and the associated abnormalities. Ichthyosis is a lifelong disease to which there is no cure. Ichthyosis may be…

Choice “C” is the best answer. Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic disease that entails painful, inflamed lesions in the axillary, inguinal, and anogenital areas, where apocrine sweat glands are present. Biopsy is rarely required, especially in well-developed lesions. Diagnosis of HS is clinical, and is based on the presence of typical lesions in a characteristic distribution, with recurrence (one accepted criterion is two recurrences over a period of 6 months)[1]. Choice “A” is not the…

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes (a type of whit blood cell). Leukemia may affect red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Past treatment for cancer and certain genetic conditions affect the risk of having childhood all. Signs of childhood all include fever and bruising. Tests that examine the blood and bone marrow are used to detect and diagnose childhood all. Certain factors affect prognosis…

Most people do not know cystic fibrosis is sometimes called “sixty-five roses.” The nickname came from a young boy who heard his mom talking about the condition on the phone. Each time she said cystic fibrosis he thought she was talking about sixty-five roses. In reality, cystic fibrosis is a devastating disease caused by a hereditary disorder which affects the exocrine glands. Around one in twenty three people in the United States carry at least one defective gene causing it to be the most…

• Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of cancer that affects the bone marrow and the blood. It disrupts the normal bodily production of the white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. • Acute simply means it is fast growing, therefore fatal if not treated quickly. Myeloid refers to the lineage it comes from. As for AML, it is from the myeloid lineage. And lastly leukemia is the disease of the cancer of the blood cells from the bone marrow. AML are caused by various factors but…