Normal haemostasis and the coagulation cascade
How blood stops bleeding: vessel spasm, platelet plug, coagulation cascade, natural anticoagulants, fibrinolysis, and the tests used.
Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026
Haematology and oncology
Diseases of the blood and bone marrow, and the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Introduction
Haematology is the study of the blood and the organs that make it, and oncology is the study of cancer. They sit together because many cancers arise from blood cells, and because bleeding, clotting and anaemia complicate almost every other cancer and illness.
This section starts with how blood clots and the disorders of clotting, then the anaemias, then the diseases of excess red cells, the leukaemias, the lymphomas and myeloma, and finally white cell disorders, transplant medicine and the general biology of cancer.
Every topic uses the same layout: a short summary, what you should be able to do afterwards, the mechanism, the clinical picture, tests, treatment and the traps. Doses, thresholds and cut-offs are checked against named guidelines and shown with their source, because guidelines and countries sometimes differ.
How to study haematology and oncology
Learn the blood film and the blood count together. Almost every haematology diagnosis starts from a count, a film and one or two targeted tests, so for each topic ask which count is abnormal, what the film shows, and what the next test is.
For bleeding and clotting, learn the screening tests (platelet count, PT, aPTT, fibrinogen) as a pattern: which test is abnormal separates platelet problems, factor deficiencies and consumption. For anaemias, work from the red cell size and the reticulocyte count.
Learn the emergencies as pathways: neutropenic fever, acute leukaemia with a high count, TTP, DIC, transfusion reactions, tumour lysis and spinal cord compression. Practise saying the first three actions aloud, and use the check-yourself questions at the end of each topic a few days later.
This section links to every organ system, because blood disease and cancer reach everywhere: follow the related links. Content here is for study and does not replace local protocols or a senior clinician's judgement.
Contents by part
The topics below are in teaching order. Each part builds on the one before it.
- Bleeding and clotting. Start with how a clot forms and is controlled, then the disorders that cause too little clotting, too much, or the wrong kind.
- Normal haemostasis and the coagulation cascade
- Haemophilia
- Anticoagulant and antithrombotic drugs
- Von Willebrand disease
- Hypercoagulable states and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation
- TTP and haemolytic uraemic syndrome
- Immune thrombocytopenia
- Venous thromboembolism in cancer and thromboprophylaxis
- Anaemias. The approach to anaemia by red cell size, then the causes in turn: iron, vitamin deficiency, haemolysis, bone marrow failure and the inherited haemoglobin disorders.
- Anaemia: approach and iron deficiency
- Sideroblastic anaemia and megaloblastic anaemia
- Haemolytic anaemias: spherocytosis, G6PD deficiency and PNH
- Sickle cell disease
- Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia
- Aplastic anaemia
- Thalassaemias
- Anaemia of chronic disease and of kidney disease
- Porphyrias
- Methaemoglobinaemia and carbon monoxide poisoning
- Too many red cells, and transfusion. Polycythaemia and the myeloproliferative neoplasms, and how to recognise and manage a transfusion reaction.
- Leukaemias. The cancers of the white cell lines: the acute leukaemias, then the chronic lymphoid and myeloid leukaemias.
- Lymphomas and plasma cell disorders. Lymphoma in its two families, myeloma and the related protein-producing disorders.
- White cell disorders, transplant and cancer biology. Low and high white cell counts, transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease, and the links between precursor lesions, paraneoplastic syndromes and cancer.
- Cancer treatment and supportive care. The main treatment families (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted drugs), the emergencies and syndromes cancer causes, and palliative care.
Topics
Haemophilia
X-linked deficiency of factor VIII or IX causing recurrent bleeding into joints and muscles: diagnosis, factor replacement, inhibitors, and prophylaxis.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Anticoagulant and antithrombotic drugs
Every anticoagulant and antithrombotic drug class: mechanism, monitoring, reversal, indications, perioperative care, bleeding management and low-resource use.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Von Willebrand disease
Common inherited bleeding disorder: how low or abnormal von Willebrand factor causes mucocutaneous bleeding, how it is diagnosed, and how it is treated.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Hypercoagulable states and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
Inherited and acquired hypercoagulable states: thrombophilia testing, anticoagulant treatment, warfarin skin necrosis, and heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Disseminated intravascular coagulation
Systemic coagulation activation that consumes platelets and factors, causing microvascular clots and bleeding: causes, tests, ISTH score and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026
TTP and haemolytic uraemic syndrome
A thrombotic microangiopathy: TTP (ADAMTS13 deficiency) and HUS. Presentation, PLASMIC score, ADAMTS13, plasma exchange, caplacizumab, rituximab, eculizumab.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Immune thrombocytopenia
Autoimmune thrombocytopenia: low platelet counts from antibody-driven destruction and reduced production; diagnosis, causes and management.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Venous thromboembolism in cancer and thromboprophylaxis
How active cancer raises VTE risk, how that risk is scored, prevention in hospital and after cancer surgery, and anticoagulant treatment choices.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Anaemia: approach and iron deficiency
How anaemia is defined and sorted by red cell size, how iron is absorbed and stored, why deficiency develops, and how to treat it.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Sideroblastic anaemia and megaloblastic anaemia
How ringed sideroblasts and megaloblasts arise, how to separate B12 and folate deficiency, and how to treat them.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Haemolytic anaemias: spherocytosis, G6PD deficiency and PNH
How red cells are destroyed, how to recognise haemolysis, and the causes, tests and treatments for spherocytosis, G6PD deficiency and PNH.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Sickle cell disease
What HbS is, how vaso-occlusion happens, how to recognise each complication, and how to manage it with current guideline-based care.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia
Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia: warm IgG versus cold IgM, DAT patterns, blood film, treatment, Evans syndrome, low-resource care.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Aplastic anaemia
Bone marrow failure causing pancytopenia: causes, diagnosis, severity and treatment, including stem cell transplant and immunosuppression.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Thalassaemias
What thalassaemia is, how alpha and beta types differ, and how diagnosis, screening and long-term care work.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Anaemia of chronic disease and of kidney disease
How inflammation traps iron and blunts erythropoietin in anaemia of chronic disease, and how renal anaemia is defined, investigated and treated.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Porphyrias
Rare heme-synthesis disorders: AIP with neurovisceral attacks, PCT with blistering photosensitivity, their triggers, diagnosis, and modern treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Methaemoglobinaemia and carbon monoxide poisoning
Two oxygen-carrying failures: oxidised haemoglobin that cannot carry oxygen, and carbon monoxide competing for the same haem.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Polycythaemia and myeloproliferative neoplasms
Polycythaemia and myeloproliferative neoplasms: relative vs absolute erythrocytosis, PV with JAK2, secondary causes, WHO 2022 criteria, treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Blood transfusion and transfusion reactions
How blood transfusion works, when to give each component, the reactions it can trigger, and how to recognise and manage them at the bedside.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Essential thrombocythaemia and myelofibrosis
ET and myelofibrosis: driver mutations JAK2, CALR and MPL, thrombotic risk scores, WHO/ICC and ELN-based management, and myelofibrosis treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Acute leukaemias
Acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukaemia: classification, presentation, diagnosis, risk stratification, treatment and emergencies for students.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
CLL: epidemiology, diagnosis, staging, prognosis and modern treatment from watchful waiting to targeted therapy.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Chronic myeloid leukaemia and hairy cell leukaemia
Chronic myeloid leukaemia (BCR-ABL1, TKIs) and hairy cell leukaemia (BRAF V600E, purine analogues): diagnosis and treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Myelodysplastic syndromes
Clonal marrow disease causing cytopenias and dysplasia: classification, risk scores, treatment, progression to leukaemia.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
A heterogeneous group of lymphoid cancers: classification, painless lymphadenopathy, staging with PET-CT, and modern chemoimmunotherapy.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Hodgkin lymphoma
Classical Hodgkin lymphoma: pathology, presentation, staging, PET-adapted treatment, prognosis, late effects, and low-resource care.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma: clonal plasma cell disease, CRAB and SLiM criteria, diagnosis, staging, treatment and low-resource care.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia and amyloidosis
Waldenstrom macroglobulinaemia and amyloidosis: how IgM paraproteins cause hyperviscosity, and how amyloid is found, typed and treated.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Hyperviscosity and cryoglobulinaemia
Hyperviscosity syndrome and cryoglobulinaemia: causes, clinical features and plasmapheresis management.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Neutropenia
What neutropenia is, why it happens, how to grade and investigate it, and how febrile neutropenia and clozapine monitoring are managed.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Eosinophilia
What an elevated blood eosinophil count means, why it occurs, how to investigate it, and how it is treated.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Transplant medicine: rejection and graft-versus-host disease
Solid-organ rejection and graft-versus-host disease: how the immune system attacks a transplant, and how we prevent and treat it.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Cancer biology: precursor lesions and tumour associations
Precancer lesions and the cancers they feed, plus carcinogenesis, paraneoplastic syndromes, tumour markers, screening principles and low-resource notes.Checked against sourcesVerified 28 October 2026Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: autologous and allogeneic, donor selection, conditioning, complications and aftercare.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Principles of cancer staging, screening and tumour markers
How cancers are staged (TNM and performance status), how screening programmes are judged, and how tumour markers are used and not used.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Chemotherapy: classes and toxicities
How cytotoxic chemotherapy drug classes work, why they damage fast-growing normal tissues, and the organ toxicities to watch for with each class.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Radiotherapy principles and side effects
How ionizing radiation treats cancer: intent, planning, fractionation, acute and late effects, indications, and what to expect after treatment.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Immunotherapy and targeted cancer therapy
How checkpoint inhibitors release anti-tumour immunity, how targeted drugs block oncogenic signalling, their doses, toxicities and the care that makes them.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Oncologic emergencies
Recognition and first management of five life-threatening cancer complications: tumour lysis, vena cava obstruction, cord compression, hypercalcaemia and.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Paraneoplastic syndromes and cancer of unknown primary
Remote effects of cancer across endocrine, neurological, skin and blood systems, and workup of a metastasis with an unknown primary.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026Palliative care and cancer pain
How palliative care relieves cancer pain and other distress: the WHO analgesic ladder, opioid dosing and safety, symptom control at end of life.Checked against sourcesVerified 31 October 2026