Hematology. For medical students and general practitioners

In recent years, with the increasing availability of techniques able to describe in depth the molecular processes leading to the onset of hematological diseases, many of the traditional views on the pathogenesis of malignant and non-malignant diseases, their diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, have been evolving, and have highlighted the necessity for a constant update. However, the wide amount of available information requires a selection process, in order to provide the updated necessary information to approach the physiology of blood production and blood diseases, in a textbook manageable for students of the medical and biologic areas, including nurses, biotechnology students and Hematology fellows. For this reason, we propose this hematology manual, aiming at providing essential information on the different areas of hematology in a concise textbook, combined with most recent updates on pathobiology and treatment. A large iconography has been included to depict the morphologic changes characteristics of the different hematology diseases, summarize disease classifications and stratifications, and outline pathogenetic processes and treatment algorithms. We are proud to say that the Hematology Experts selected for the different chapters were free to design the flow of the text, and involve their collaborators, to provide a comprehensive view of the diseases, accessible to students and fellows. The Book has been coordinated by representatives of the Universities of Ancona, Parma and Rome Tor Vergata, who worked together for over one year, with the generous support of local collaborators, who have contributed both in the drafting, and editing of many of the chapters. We are grateful to all Collegues who participated to this editorial project, representative of many Italian schools of Hematology, who showed again the great collaborative spirit characterizing our specially. This same attitude has led to many important scientific achievements over the years, and included Italian Hematologists among the most productive groups worldwide, in terms of biologic and clinical results. This book could not be accomplished without the constant support of the Publisher and the English language revision by a mother-language proof-reader. We hope that Readers will enjoy this textbook of Hematology, that will hopefully meet the learning needs of medicine, nursing, biology and biotechnology students, and be an inspiring reference for hematologists in training. The Editors Nicola Giuliani – Attilio Olivieri – Adriano Venditti – Maria Teresa Voso