Hematology: diseases — симптомы, диагностика и лечение

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common deficiency condition in the world and is most common in women of childbearing age, pregnant women and adolescents. The main thing to understand right away is that hemoglobin is the last to fall. First, the body uses up iron reserves in the depot, and the person lives for months with hair loss, brittle nails, shortness of breath on the stairs and constant fatigue, and the hemoglobin in the blood test is still “normal.” The indicator that detects this stage is ferritin, and it is this indicator that is most often forgotten to be prescribed. Therefore, the usual phrase “my hemoglobin is 125, which means everything is fine with iron” sounds convincing, but in fact does not prove anything.

Vitamin B12 is needed not only by the blood, but also by the nervous system, and this determines everything in its deficiency. The reserves are consumed over the years, so the condition develops slowly and imperceptibly, and the first complaints are often not pallor and weakness, but numbness in the feet, unsteadiness of gait and memory impairment. The most important thing to know is that hematopoiesis is restored almost completely during treatment, but damage to nerve fibers may remain forever if it starts late. B12 deficiency is exactly the case when the cost of several months of delay is measured not by well-being, but by irreversible changes.

Platelets are the cells that are the first to close a damaged vessel. When there are few of them, the blood stops longer, bruises without contusions and small red dots appear on the skin. At the same time, the number in itself in the analysis does not determine the danger: many people live for years with moderately reduced platelets and do not have a single episode of bleeding. Three things matter - how low the indicator is, whether there is bleeding and what is the reason behind it. And one more thing that is checked at the very beginning: the result can be false, the platelets stick together right in the test tube, and the person undergoes a long examination in vain.

Leukemia is a tumor disease of the hematopoietic tissue, in which the bone marrow begins to produce altered cells and gradually loses the ability to produce normal ones. This is where the whole picture of the disease emerges: there are not enough red blood cells - weakness and pallor appear, there are not enough full-fledged leukocytes - a person begins to get sick often and seriously, there are not enough platelets - bruises and bleeding occur. The word is very frightening, but it is important to maintain the proportions: the listed complaints in the overwhelming majority of cases are caused by completely different reasons. The difference is that they can be checked quickly and inexpensively - with a regular general blood test, and not with complex examinations or tumor markers.

Lymphoma is a tumor disease of the lymphatic system in which altered lymphocytes accumulate in lymph nodes and other organs. Almost always, the path to this diagnosis begins with one finding: a person feels an enlarged lymph node. And here it is important to immediately place emphasis. Enlarged lymph nodes happen to everyone and almost always mean that the immune system has reacted to something - a sore throat, a scratch, a sore tooth, a viral infection. Lymphoma is rare among the causes, and it is distinguished not by the fact of enlargement itself, but by the nature of the node, its behavior over time and related symptoms. Knowing these differences is useful for exactly two purposes: to stop being afraid in an obviously harmless situation and not to procrastinate in one where you cannot wait.

Hemophilia is a hereditary blood clotting disorder in which one of the protein factors involved in the formation of a strong clot is missing. Almost exclusively men are affected, and the disease is transmitted through female carriers. The popular understanding of hemophilia is greatly distorted: it is commonly believed that a person with this diagnosis can bleed to death from a cut. In fact, minor cuts and abrasions stop almost like everyone else, because the first stage of coagulation - the work of platelets - is not impaired. The danger is different: the blood is not retained deep in the tissues, and hemorrhages occur in the joints and muscles, delayed bleeding after tooth extraction and operations. It is repeated bleeding into the joints, and not cuts, that determine the fate of the joint and the quality of life - and this is what modern treatment prevents.