MRI Scan

Our blood can covertly hide secrets that aren’t easily perceivable by the naked eye. Any subtle change in the normalcy of the blood function leads to diseases such as anaemia, bleeding, leukaemia, unusual clotting tendencies and many others. Blood is composed of red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), and platelets, all of which are produced in the bone marrow. Red blood cells, which make up about 45% of whole blood, carry oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissue and also carry carbon dioxide back to the lungs to be exhaled. White blood cells help fight infections whereas platelets are small, colourless fragments that stick together and interact with clotting proteins to stop or prevent bleeding. Our flowing blood also has proteins that keep bleeding and clotting in balance.

So, what is haematology? When you add an -ology to the end of a word, it means “the study of.” The word “heme” comes from the Greek for blood. Haematology as a quantitative discipline began with the development of practical and reliable methods to accurately enumerate and study the various blood cells and related diseases. From time immemorial, various systems of medicine considered blood and other bodily fluids as “humours” that had to remain in proper balance to maintain health. The Egyptians used blood-letting tools for patients to prevent or cure illness and diseases. Fast forward into modern times, in 1642, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek using a simple single-lens microscope identified blood cells. In 1770, William Hewson introduced the clotting features of the blood, described the white blood cells or leukocytes for the first time as well as hypothesized the existence of the lymphatic system. Almost a century later in 1882, Julius Bizzozero identified the “platchen” having a haemostatic function which later became platelets. So, today’s haematologists focus largely on lymphatic organs and bone marrow and diagnose blood count irregularities.