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WardSpace
Specialties

Hematology

Anemia, cytopenias, clots, and the smear.

Presentations

Unintentional weight lossBruising and bleedingAnemiaThrombocytopenia

Ward cases

Tired for months, and the blood count is a surprise

A 62-year-old attends a routine appointment and leaves with a hemoglobin of 71.

Bruises she cannot explain

A 38-year-old with new bruising and a fierce headache keeps losing her thread mid-sentence.

Interpretation drills

LabsFatigue and a low hemoglobinLabsAnemia with a marrow that is tryingLabsMacrocytosis with a silent marrowLabsEverything is lowLabsOozing from every lineCompareIron deficiency vs thalassemia traitAlgorithmApproach to anemia

Tools & pathways

AlgorithmAnemia

Medications

drugDirect oral anticoagulantsdrugWarfarin

From the library

Thin blood film with many Plasmodium falciparum ring forms, several red cells carrying more than one parasite
A heavy falciparum parasitaemia: rings in a large fraction of red cells, some cells carrying two or three. Multiple infection of one cell is itself a falciparum clue.Dr Graham Beards, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Peripheral blood smear field with red cells and a segmented neutrophil
A peripheral blood smear field: red cells with central pallor and one segmented neutrophil.BCCD blood cell dataset (Shenggan) · MIT · source
Thin blood film showing crescent-shaped Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes beside ring forms
The banana: crescent-shaped gametocytes are specific to Plasmodium falciparum. They are the sexual stage, do not cause disease, and can persist after treatment.CDC Public Health Image Library · Public domain · source
Peripheral blood smear field with red cells and a mononuclear leukocyte
A smear field: red cells around a mononuclear leukocyte.BCCD blood cell dataset (Shenggan) · MIT · source