Hematology

Surprisingly, I found benign hematology to be really fun. I wasn't expecting to; I never really thought about hematology much at all. But something to do with the intellectual aspect of it draws me. I like the differential diagnosis involved; from a blood smear (spherocytes shown above) or a few numbers like the MCV and retic count, you can get a decent impression of what might be going on (autoimmune hemolytic anemia or hereditary spherocytosis). There is a very organized way of thinking about the differential and the tests that need to be ordered. Even the coagulation cascade, which I never got for a long time, has become a little more manageable. There are just so many diseases that can involve blood, and I really enjoy thinking through them.

Image shown under fair use, from the University of Virginia website.