This site is designed as a resource for medical students and hematology instructors. Educators may link to, reference, or bookmark those individual cases that best serve their needs in teaching, provided the links do not use the trademarks of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). To link to a case, copy the URL for the case title page (in the address window of your browser when the title page is showing).

The interactive cases are designed to simulate the steps involved in diagnosing a patient, from taking the history and performing a physical exam, to ordering and interpreting lab tests, to making a final diagnosis and following the clinical course of the disease. While working through each case, students are challenged to consider the right questions to ask at each step in the process. At the same time, they can learn more about the pathophysiology of the disease through the explanatory text, graphic images, and glossary.

Case Index

Abdominal Pain and Anemia in a Child (Allison King, MD, MPH and John DiPersio, MD, PhD)
A 4 y/o male with Hemoglobin SS is admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain and fever.

Anemia (Paul K. Schick, MD)
A 45 y/o white female presents with weakness, dyspnea, and menorrhagia.

Anemia and Jaundice in a Newborn (Charles T. Quinn, MD)
A 7-day-old Caucasian girl is referred to you to determine whether her jaundice is caused by a blood disorder.

Anemia and Thrombocytopenia (Shirley P. Levine, MD)
A 32 y/o African-American woman presents with anemia and thrombocytopenia.

Bleeding History in a Child Undergoing Surgery (Spero R. Cataland, MD, and Eric H. Kraut, MD)
A 10-year-old Caucasian male is to undergo an elective tonsillectomy.

Childhood Acute Leukemia (James Harper, MD)
A 17-month-old male is admitted to the hospital with a two week history of fever (T max 104) and a two day history of rash on his legs.

Fever, Cough, Back Pain and Fatigue (Robert A. Kyle, MD, and Michael Tomasson, MD)
A 65-year-old woman developed progressive fatigue approximately 6 months ago and is now admitted with a sudden onset of fever, shaking chills and productive cough.

GI Bleeding (David Green, MD, PhD)
A 51 y/o woman who is scheduled for a bowel resection presents with GI bleeding.

Hematemesis (Marc J. Kahn, MD)
A 64 y/o man presents to the emergency department after four episodes of vomiting.

Lymphadenopathy (Jorge E. Romaguera, MD)
A 60 y/o man complains of a new lump in the right groin for the past two weeks.

Lymphocytosis (Bernard Greenberg, MD)
A 69 y/o white man who is scheduled for a routine herniorrhaphy must cancel because of an abnormal preoperative blood count.

Macrocytosis (Emmanuel C. Besa, MD)
A 78 y/o woman presents with macrocytosis and fatigue.

Myeloproliferative Disorder (Eileen Scigliano, MD)
A 50 y/o man presents with leukocytosis, a "left shift," thrombocytosis, and basophilia.

A Patient with Pancytopenia (Dr. Peter Marks, MD)
A 34-year-old female is referred to the Emergency Department after seeing her dentist for bleeding gums and is found to have pancytopenia.

Polycythemia (Virginia C. Broudy, MD)
A 72 y/o man comes in for evaluation of polycythemia.

Surgical Bleeding (Lisa Arfons, MD and Alvin Schmaier, MD)
A 62-year-old female is in the recovery room after a thrombectomy. Her attending is concerned about the amount of blood draining from her chest tubes.

Thrombocytopenia (Terry Gernsheimer, MD, and Michele B. Frank, MD)
A 23 y/o female complains of a rash on her ankles and shins and easy bruising.

Thrombosis (Thomas G. DeLoughery, MD)
A 20 y/o female presents with an extensive deep venous thrombosis.

Many of these cases were originally developed for use at the authors’ institutions, and ASH thanks these authors for making their cases available to a much wider audience. Members of the ASH Committee on Educational Affairs review each case before it is posted online. If you are interested in submitting a case, please contact ASH for more information.

All teaching cases are copyright of the American Society of Hematology. ISSN: 1931-6860.

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