What is haematology?
Haematology looks at disorders of the blood.1 Doctors with specialist training in this area of medicine are called haematologists.2
Blood disorders may include blood-related cancers, such as leukaemia, myeloma or lymphoma, but they can also include non-cancerous (known as benign) conditions. These may include anaemia, haemophilia, sickle cell disease or iron deficiency or surplus.3
Haematology treatment options
Treatment for blood cancers varies depending on the type, stage and spread. Treatments may include various types of therapy (listed below) as well as stem cell or bone marrow transplantation. 4
Chemotherapy is an approach to cancer therapy which involves the administration of medicine, usually orally or by injection, which is intended to kill cancer cells or minimise their growth and spread. Chemotherapy can be used in conjunction with other cancer treatments.5
Immunotherapy is a type of treatment that is intended to help your own immune system fight cancer. There are different types of immunotherapy for cancer that work in different ways.6
Radiation therapy uses high energy X-rays or other particles to treat cancer and can be used at all stages.7
Other treatment options that may be recommended for benign conditions or cancers include:
In the body, iron is used to make haemoglobin in the red blood cells. Oxygen sticks to haemoglobin so the red blood cells can carry it around the body to the cells.10 Your doctor may recommend an iron infusion (where iron supplements are delivered directly into a vein) if your iron levels are low and you cannot take oral iron supplements, you have issues absorbing iron from the food you eat or you need to increase your iron levels quickly (for example right before a surgery).10
- Johns Hopkins Medicine. Hematology. Available from: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/hematology (accessed December 2023).
- National Cancer Institute, NCI dictionaries, Dictionary of cancer terms, ‘hematologist’. Available from: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/hematologist (accessed December 2023).
- HealthDirect. Haematologist. Available from: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/haematologist (accessed December 2023)
- City of Hope (formally Cancer Treatment Centers of America), ‘Hematologic oncology’. Available from: https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/hematologic-oncology (accessed May 2023).
- National Cancer Institute, NCI dictionaries, Dictionary of cancer terms, ‘chemotherapy’. Available from: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/chemotherapy (accessed May 2023).
- National Cancer Institute, NCI dictionaries, Dictionary of cancer terms, ‘immunotherapy’. Available from: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/immunotherapy (accessed May 2023).
- National Cancer Institute, ‘Radiation therapy’. Available from: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/radiation-therapy (accessed May 2023).
- The Blood Unit. Venesection: Patient Information. Available from: https://thebloodunit.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/TBU-Patient-info_Procedures_Venesection.pdf (accessed December 2023).
- National Blood Authority. Available from: https://blood.gov.au (accessed December 2023).
- National Blood Authority. Managing my iron factsheet. Available from: https://blood.gov.au/system/files/documents/managing-my-iron-factsheet.pdf (accessed December 2023).
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