Hematology & Oncology confusion pairs
31 Hematology & Oncology topics students commonly mix up on Step 1, each with the fastest separator, a side-by-side comparison, and a free practice question.
- Vitamin B12 deficiency vs Folate deficiencyB12 has neurologic findings and high MMA; folate has normal MMA and no neurologic findings.Video
- ITP vs TTPITP is isolated platelets; TTP is thrombocytopenia plus MAHA and organ injury, even without the full pentad.Video
- Hemophilia vs Von Willebrand diseaseHemophilia causes deep bleeding and hemarthroses; vWD causes mucosal bleeding with platelet-adhesion defects.Video
- Iron deficiency anemia vs Anemia of chronic diseaseIron deficiency: low ferritin with high TIBC; anemia of chronic disease: high or normal ferritin with low TIBC.Video
- Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia vs Cold agglutinin diseaseWarm AIHA: IgG with a direct Coombs positive for IgG; cold agglutinin disease: IgM with a direct Coombs positive for C3d.Video
- DIC vs TTPLow fibrinogen with abnormal PT/PTT points DIC; normal fibrinogen/coagulation tests with MAHA points TTP.Video
- Iron-restricted microcytic anemia vs Globin or heme-synthesis microcytic anemiaIron deficiency is ferritin-low/TIBC-high; chronic disease is ferritin-high/TIBC-low; thalassemia is globin problem; sideroblastic/lead…
- Alpha thalassemia vs Beta thalassemiaAlpha is gene deletion with often normal electrophoresis in trait; beta is point mutation with increased HbA2 in trait and severe disease…Video
- Membrane hemolysis vs Enzyme hemolysisSpherocytosis is membrane/splenic extravascular hemolysis; G6PD is oxidant-triggered Heinz/bite hemolysis; pyruvate kinase is ATP-defect…Video
- Sickle cell disease vs HbSC disease and sickle traitHbSS is severe sickling with no HbA; HbSC is mixed HbS/HbC milder disease; trait has HbA and is usually asymptomatic.Video
- HUS vs TTP and DICHUS is diarrhea-kidney MAHA; TTP is neuro MAHA with normal coags; DIC is MAHA plus abnormal coagulation and low fibrinogen.Video
- Hereditary spherocytosis vs Autoimmune hemolytic anemiaSpherocytes plus negative Coombs and family history points hereditary; spherocytes plus positive Coombs points autoimmune.Video
- Aplastic anemia vs Myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemiaAplastic anemia is empty marrow; MDS is dysplastic ineffective marrow; acute leukemia is blast-filled marrow.Video
- Acute leukemias vs Chronic leukemiasAcute equals blasts and rapid marrow failure; chronic equals mature clonal cells with CLL smudge cells or CML BCR-ABL myeloid expansion.Video
- Acute promyelocytic leukemia vs Other AMLAPL is AML plus promyelocytes, t(15;17), and DIC; other AML is myeloblast disease without that emergency signature.Video
- CML vs Leukemoid reactionCML is BCR-ABL clonal myeloid disease with low LAP; leukemoid reaction is reactive neutrophilia with high LAP.Video
- Hodgkin lymphoma vs Non-Hodgkin lymphomaHodgkin is Reed-Sternberg/CD15/CD30 with orderly contiguous spread; NHL is subtype-diverse, often extranodal or noncontiguous.Video
- Burkitt lymphoma vs Diffuse large B-cell lymphomaBurkitt is MYC/t(8;14), starry-sky, very fast; DLBCL is diffuse large B-cell sheets without the classic MYC-star pattern.Video
- Follicular lymphoma vs Mantle cell lymphomaFollicular is BCL2/t(14;18) indolent follicle disease; mantle is cyclin D1/t(11;14) aggressive mantle-zone disease.Video
- Multiple myeloma vs Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia and MGUSMyeloma is CRAB plus plasma cells and lytic lesions; Waldenstrom is IgM hyperviscosity without lytic bone disease; MGUS is M protein…Video
- Polycythemia vera vs Secondary polycythemiaPV is JAK2-high red cells with low EPO; secondary polycythemia is EPO-high red cells from hypoxia or EPO source.Video
- Essential thrombocythemia vs Reactive thrombocytosisET is clonal persistent thrombocytosis with JAK2/CALR/MPL; reactive thrombocytosis is a secondary response to another condition.Video
- Primary myelofibrosis vs Aplastic anemiaMyelofibrosis is scarred marrow with teardrops and big spleen; aplastic anemia is empty marrow without extramedullary hematopoiesis.Video
- Von Willebrand disease vs HemophiliavWD is platelet-adhesion mucosal bleeding with abnormal ristocetin; hemophilia is coagulation-factor deep bleeding with hemarthroses.
- Inherited thrombophilias vs Antiphospholipid syndromeInherited thrombophilia is family-pattern venous clotting from genetic coagulation defects; APS is acquired antibody thrombosis with…Video
- Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia vs DICHIT is heparin-timed platelet activation with thrombosis; DIC is systemic factor consumption with abnormal coagulation labs.Video
- Iron deficiency anemia vs Lead poisoning and sideroblastic anemiaIron deficiency is iron missing; lead and sideroblastic anemia are heme-synthesis problems with iron present or misused.Video
- Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg pattern vs Burkitt starry-sky and mantle cyclin D1 patternsReed-Sternberg/CD15/CD30 means Hodgkin; MYC/starry-sky means Burkitt; cyclin D1/t(11;14) means mantle cell.
- B-cell lymphoma highlights vs T-cell lymphoma highlightsB-cell lymphoma is usually CD19/CD20 or surface-Ig driven; T-cell lymphoma is CD3-driven with subtype clues such as skin, HTLV-1, flower…Video
- Antibody-predominant immunodeficiencies vs Combined T-cell or cytoskeletal immunodeficienciesBruton is absent B cells; Hyper-IgM is class-switch failure; SCID is combined severe T/B dysfunction; Wiskott-Aldrich is eczema plus…
- Langerhans cell histiocytosis vs Erdheim-Chester diseaseLCH is CD1a/langerin/Birbeck with lytic lesions; Erdheim-Chester is CD68-positive/CD1a-negative foamy histiocytes with symmetric…
Hematology & Oncology rapid reviews
Several confusion pairs per video, with chapters for each pair.
Medicine Explained
Plain-language explainers on the physiology behind hematology & oncology.
More explainers