What blood is made of and how it clots, anemias, bleeding and clotting disorders, blood cancers, and the tests, donations and transfusions that help.
145 HealthJournals
Blood clots can be lifesaving when they plug the hole after an injury, but when clots form at the wrong time or place, they can turn deadly. Learn how to prevent them with simple lifestyle changes.
We rely on our bodies to seal up cuts and injuries to curtail blood loss, but what happens when the tools your body needs are in short supply? Hemophilia can be a bloody mess, and living with it requires extra care — read more.
Stem cells have generated a lot of hype, but that doesn’t mean your kid will necessarily benefit from banking them. Their older brother might, however.
Blood carries oxygen, fights infection and clots to stop bleeding through its red cells, white cells and platelets, all made from stem cells in the bone marrow. White cells range from T and B lymphocytes to natural killer cells, eosinophils and the plasma cells that make antibodies, while blood typing sorts blood into groups.
Blood clotting stops bleeding, but clots that form when they shouldn't can block blood flow, as in deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Clotting disorders such as protein C and S deficiency and polycythemia vera raise the risk, as can pregnancy and long travel. Blood thinners treat clots and help prevent them.
Excessive Blood Clotting 
Blood Clots 
Blood Clots and Pregnancy 
Blood Clotting Disorders 
Blood Clots and Travel 
Platelet Disorders 
Pulmonary Embolism 
Deep Vein Thrombosis 
Venous Thromboembolism Protein S Deficiency 
Protein C Deficiency 
Prothrombin Thrombophilia 
Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation 
Polycythemia Vera 
Essential Thrombocythemia 
Blood Thinners Blood tests measure cells, sugars, fats, hormones and other substances in the blood to check health and help diagnose disease. They range from a complete blood count, blood glucose and A1C to cholesterol, thyroid and kidney tests. Others look for cancer, as a liquid biopsy does, or screen newborns for metabolic and genetic disorders.
Blood Tests 
Blood Count Tests 
A1C Test and Race/Ethnicity 
A1C and Diabetes 
Blood Glucose 
Diabetes Tests and Diagnosis 
Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring 
Laboratory Tests 
Biomarkers 
Cholesterol 
Heart Tests 
Liquid Biopsy 
Wellness and Tracking Your Health: Doctor's Office Measurements 
Thyroid Tests 
Kidney Tests 
Laboratory Tests for Cancer 
Newborn Screening: Metabolic and Genetic Disorders 
Genetic Disorders 
Hematuria 
Sickle Cell Trait Bleeding disorders keep the blood from clotting properly, so bleeding lasts longer or starts on its own. They include hemophilia, von Willebrand disease, low platelet counts such as immune thrombocytopenia and rare clotting factor deficiencies. In women, they can cause heavy menstrual bleeding.
Bleeding 
Bleeding Disorders 
Hemophilia Inhibitors 
Bleeding Disorders in Women 
Hemophilia 
Women and Hemophilia 
Heavy Menstrual Bleeding 
Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding Platelet Disorders Von Willebrand Disease Prothrombin Deficiency 
Thrombocytopenia 
Immune Thrombocytopenia 
Factor V Deficiency 
Factor XIII Deficiency 
Gray Platelet Syndrome Essential Thrombocythemia 
Platelet Storage Pool Deficiency 
Afibrinogenemia Anemia means the blood has too few healthy red blood cells or too little hemoglobin to carry oxygen well. Its forms range from iron-deficiency anemia and the anemia of chronic kidney disease to aplastic and hemolytic anemia. Inherited forms include sickle cell disease, thalassemia and Fanconi anemia.
Anemia 
Anemia in Chronic Kidney Disease 
Aplastic Anemia 
Iron-Deficiency Anemia 
Iron Deficiency in Women 
Hemolytic Anemia 
Anemia of Inflammation 
Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia 
Sickle Cell Disease Sickle Cell Trait 
Living with Sickle Cell Disease 
Fanconi Anemia 
Hemoglobinopathy 
Sickle Beta Thalassemia 
Thalassemia 
Alpha Thalassemia 
Beta Thalassemia 
Sideroblastic Anemia 
Hereditary Elliptocytosis 
Cold Agglutinin Disease Blood conditions beyond anemia, bleeding and clotting include low white blood cell counts, as in neutropenia, and eosinophilic disorders. Others range from inherited hemoglobin disorders such as thalassemia and hemoglobin E disease to porphyria, Gilbert syndrome, Rh incompatibility in pregnancy and high blood cholesterol.
High Blood Cholesterol 
High Blood Triglycerides Hemoglobinopathy Thalassemia Sickle Beta Thalassemia Alpha Thalassemia Beta Thalassemia 
Rh Incompatibility 
Alkalosis 
Lymphopenia 
Neutropenia 
Lymphocytic Vasculitis 
Porphyria 
Blood-Borne Pathogens Essential Thrombocythemia Hereditary Elliptocytosis 
Gilbert Syndrome 
Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis 
Eosinophilic Cystitis 
Eosinophilic Disorders 
Cryoglobulinemia 
Hemoglobin Zurich 
Systemic Mastocytosis 
Severe Congenital Neutropenia 
Hemoglobin E Disease Leukemia is cancer of the blood-forming cells in the bone marrow, which fill the blood with abnormal white blood cells. Its main types are acute lymphocytic, acute myeloid, chronic lymphocytic and chronic myeloid leukemia, along with hairy cell leukemia. Childhood leukemia is most often acute lymphoblastic or acute myeloid leukemia.
Lymphoma is cancer of the lymphocytes, the white blood cells of the immune system, and falls into Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Its types, in adults and children, range from Burkitt and mantle cell lymphoma to AIDS-related lymphoma, lymphoma of the brain and spinal cord, Waldenström macroglobulinemia and mycosis fungoides.
Blood cancers other than leukemia and lymphoma also start in the bone marrow and the blood cells it makes. In myelodysplastic syndromes the marrow makes too few healthy blood cells, and in myeloproliferative neoplasms it makes too many. Others include multiple myeloma and other plasma cell neoplasms and Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
Blood disorder treatment includes blood thinners, which keep clots from forming or growing, and gene therapy, a newer treatment for sickle cell disease. Hemodialysis filters the blood when the kidneys can no longer do it, and daily life with sickle cell disease brings care of its own.
Donated blood is typed and matched so it can be given safely in a transfusion, and donors need enough iron to give again. Blood from a newborn's umbilical cord can be saved through cord blood banking, while blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants replace the cells that make blood.
Women's blood health is shaped by the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Its topics range from menstruation, irregular periods and heavy menstrual bleeding to bleeding disorders and hemophilia in women, iron deficiency and Rh incompatibility between a mother and her baby.
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