This will be a practical handbook for use in a clinical ICU setting for information on diagnosis and clinical management of haematological disease in critical care. There are currently no books on the market that significantly address haematology in critical care – all ICU based books have a broader focus of diagnosis and clinical management, rather than purely haematology based. Common procedures/interventions for a haematologist will include delivering critical care, often for life-threatening disease.

For unselected ICU admissions, every patient will have a full blood count and the great majority will have their coagulation profile checked. Many of these critically ill patients will have abnormalities in these tests that require interpretation. Many more will have clinical conditions such as thrombosis or bleeding and may require blood products.