Haematocytopathology: why?

Haematopathology is probably the most complex among all the fields of pathology. As a consequence, in many institutions, pathologists who deal with haematology have a specific professional profile and are often completely devoted to this field of pathology. In addition, in highly specialized centres, in the wake of clinical haematology, haematopathology is even further divided into different branches on the basis of the lymphoid or bone marrow histogenesis of the corresponding pathologies. Needless to say, the diagnoses, and prognostic and predictive evaluations, are increasingly complex and require the application of ancillary techniques and specific knowledge. These factors have inevitably led clinical haematologists and haematopathologists to concentrate and circumscribe the corresponding patients, professional competence and cultural tools. In spite of these artificial boundaries, lymphoid and bone marrow pathology may involve non-lymphoid organs or sites outside the bone marrow; conversely non-haematological pathology may arise in or involve lymphoid organs creating inextricable connections. Moreover, many non-lymphomatous reactive, immunodeficiency-related and lymphomatous processes may involve non-haematological organs or be closely intermingled with them but require haematological tools and knowledge to be managed. In conclusion, the studies reported in this issue of Cytopathology further emphasize the role that the cytopathologist, or rather the haematocytopathologist , equipped with specific knowledge and appropriate technical procedures and aware of the possibilities and limitations of cytology, can have in the diagnosis and comprehension of haematological pathology.