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Hematology (always spelled hematology in British English) is a branch of medicine concerned with the study of the causes, prognosis, treatment and prevention of blood-related diseases. It involves the treatment of diseases that affect the production of blood and its components, such as blood cells, hemoglobin, blood proteins, bone marrow, platelets, blood vessels, the spleen and the clotting process. Such diseases may include hemophilia, blood clots (thrombus), other bleeding disorders, and blood cancers such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma. Laboratory analysis of blood is often performed by a medical technologist or medical laboratory scientist.
Doctors specializing in hematology are known as hematologists or haematologists. Their routine work mainly includes the care and treatment of patients with hematological diseases, although some may look at blood films and bone marrow slides under the microscope in the hematology laboratory, interpret the results of various hematological tests and blood coagulation tests. In some institutions, hematologists also manage hematology laboratories. Physicians who work in, and usually manage, hematology laboratories are pathologists specializing in the diagnosis of hematological diseases, called hematopathologists or hematopathologists. Hematologists and hematopathologists usually work together to make a diagnosis and provide the most appropriate therapy if necessary. Hematology is a distinct subspecialty of internal medicine, distinct from but overlapping the subspecialty of medical oncology.
