Introductory Chapter: Hematology in Times of Precision and Innovation

Abstract

During the past two decades, hematological disorders have been extensively studied by means of classical laboratory approaches, for example, microscopy, immunophenotyping, clinical chemistry, genetic diagnostic tests such as conventional cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as well as by high-throughput technologies, including microarray-based platforms for the global analysis of DNA alterations (single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP); array, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH)), gene expression profiling (GEP), next-generation sequencing (NGS), digitalized imaging, and so on. Systemic application of these techniques has allowed for the refinement of the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathological transformation of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and disease progression in a number of hematological disorders. More importantly, they have permitted more precise and reproducible diagnoses of the different entities, risk stratification of patients, and treating them in the most appropriate manner with tailored therapeutic strategies.