It is an honour and a pleasure to welcome you all at this 20th annual International Symposium on Blood Transfusion in the Netherlands. This year you celebrate its 20th anniversary and I congratulate the Staff of the Blood Bank Noord Nederland and especially Dr. Smit Sibinga for this great achievement. As most of you know, the name of the person of Dr. Smit Sibinga is unbreakably con nected with the annual symposium in Groningen which he has organized each year from the very start, 20 years ago. The reputation of any symposium depends heavily on the quality of the lectures. I think it is not possible to organize 20 symposia in a row if the topics lack actual relevance and the speakers are not of excellent reputation. Dr. Smit Sibinga has proven to have a keen eye for selecting interesting themes and eminent speakers. Although a lot of different topics have been dealt with in the past 20 years, which each attracted the attention of a different group in the field of blood transfusion, it is not surprising that after a tradition of 20 years several speakers but also a lot of attendees are not for the first time in Groningen to participate in this event. It gives the symposium a unique atmosphere of intimacy. It is not hard to admit that most of the newer developments in transfusion medicine take place outside the Netherlands.

Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Hemostasis: Review Questions and Case Studies is the collaborative effort that spanned a time period of 2 years and included 50 experts, many whom are national leaders in their respected fields. It also represents the passion and privilege we feel to teach the next generation of physicians in Transfusion Medicine and Apheresis. The main goal for this book is to help the readers build a solid foundation of both basic and advanced conceptual knowledge to prepare for the American Board of Pathology (ABP) certification exam in Transfusion Medicine. This book is not intended to be a substitute for textbooks, original research or review articles, and/or clinical training. Further, since the field of medicine, both from a scientific and regulatory perspective, rapidly changes, the readers are advised to continuously update their knowledge by attending national meetings and reading clinical journals. To equip the readers with the basic knowledge in critical reading and data analysis, which is an essential skill in daily medical practice, a novel chapter titled "Data Interpretation in Laboratory Medicine was included in this book. In this chapter, the readers are asked to make logical conclusions based on the given data and/or statistical results. Moreover, there is also a chapter on "Practical Calculations in Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Hemostasis to help consolidate all the necessary formulas commonly used in daily practice for easy reference. These chapters are unique to our book and will not be found in any other currently on the market. All of the questions in this book were originally created by the authors of each chapter. Each question can either be standalone or part of a case scenario representing challenge cases in Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Hemostasis. These questions often represent both rare and common clinical scenarios that the authors have seen during their clinical practice. Each question is then followed by 5 possible answers, with only one being correct (or the best answer). After the question, there is a conceptual explanation followed by a more factual explanation of the right and wrong answers. We gave the individual authors the freedom to choose how they explained the wrong answer choices. Some authors chose to be more direct (e.g. Answer A is incorrect because...), while other authors chose a more conversational style (e.g. Human resources (answer A) includes staffing, selection, orientation, training, and competency assessment of employees). This format is designed to help the student linking the conceptual and factual knowledge together to form a solid foundation for use in clinical practice. At the end of each chapter, there is a list of articles and textbooks that will prove useful to the motivated student who wishes to become an expert in the field. Another special feature to our textbook is the presence of a pre-test and post-test, which are provided to help the readers with self-assessment. As stated above, the main focus of this book is to help the readers preparing for the ABP certification exam in Transfusion Medicine. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field of Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Hemostasis, we believe that this book is also beneficial to and can be used by all clinicians involved in the management of complex transfusion, apheresis, and hemostasis issues, such as hematologists, anesthesiologists, surgeons, and critical care physicians. We further believe that it is a helpful guide for these specialists to prepare for their own specialty certification exam, when the topics are related to Transfusion Medicine, Apheresis, and Hemostasis.

Currently blood is a volatile issue. The safety of blood and the quantification of transfusion risks have been dominant themes that have stimulated the development of alternative approaches in this rapidly developing area. In clinical medicine conventional blood and its components are used in supportive therapies dependent on the choice of apparent uncritical trigger factors. A compounding factor is depth of prospective clinical trials for evidence. Such trials in critical care areas would be of enormous value, not only in recording adverse effects and under-transfusion, but also indicating the value of decision analysis and cost-effectiveness in transfusion practice. Alternative approaches include the use of cytokines, growth factors, humanised monoclonal antibodies, recombinant plasma factors, and buffy coat derived natural human interferons. These are being increasingly implemented in the clinic. Solutions for oxygen transport are being developed and fibrinogen coated microcapsules are being investigated for thrombocytopenia. In surgical patients, various crystalloid and colloid combinations are explored as volume replacements. To avoid allogeneic transfusions, beneficial blood saving methods include various strategies, such as autologous deposits, normovolemic haemodilution and various agents including aprotinin, tranecamic acid, desmopressin and erythropoietin, but their use in hospital shows considerable variations. That umbilical cord blood could be a significant source of allogeneic stem cells in related and unrelated transplantation is illustrated by the increasing number of cord blood banks in Europe and elsewhere. Future blood resources are likely to face several challenges: immediate challenges relate to increased regulatory and political oversights; intermediate solutions would offer some improvements in public health and alleviate public fear but probably not address the economic challenges thrust upon the medical care system. As we approach the year 2000, the major concerns about transfusion medicine remain its logistics, safety and effectiveness. This theme is presented in the proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Blood Transfusion, developed in 21 up-to-date topics, collected and discussed in four sections. This book will be of timely value to students, professionals and all others interested or involved in the field of transfusion medicine, whether clinical or related.

Offering a concise overview of transfusion medicine, including best practices for specific clinical settings, this practical resource by Dr. Robert W. Maitta covers the key information you need to know. Holistic, multidisciplinary coverage and a succinct, easy-to-read format make it essential reading for transfusion specialists, as well as practitioners in other specialties whose patients undergo blood transfusions. - Covers the latest advancements in transfusion therapies, hematopoietic stem cells, infectious and non-infectious complications of transfusions, and future directions in transfusion medicine. - Discusses special populations, including organ transplant patients; pediatric, obstetric, and geriatric patients; and patients undergoing emergency care. - Consolidates fundamental clinical concepts and current practice of transfusion medicine into one convenient resource.

th It is a great pleasure for me to open the jubilee 25 International Symposium on Blood Transfusion here in Groningen. This symposium is co-sponsored by the World Health Organization and is being held under the auspices of the ISBT and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Walter Schwimmer. The patronage was granted with great pleasure for several reasons. First of all, Dutch experts are very active in our Committees and have largely contributed in developing the Council of Europe principles in the blood area. Secondly, the Council of Europe is active today in the area of blood transfusion due to a tragic event, which occurred in 1953 in the Netherlands; following a flooding many of the blood products given for assistance' could not be used due to incompatibilities and differences in labelling. Some words to present the Council of Europe since the organisation is sometimes confused with institutions ofthe European Union: The organisation has been founded in 1949 to establish the principles of democracy and rule of law all over Europe. Since 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin wall and the opening up of the iron curtain, these principles could be extended to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Today this makes the Council of Europe the only pan-European organisation with 41 Member States thus representing more than 750 million people.

The clinical practice of anesthesia has undergone many advances in the past few years, making this the perfect time for a new state-of-the-art anesthesia textbook for practitioners and trainees. The goal of this book is to provide a modern, clinically focused textbook giving rapid access to comprehensive, succinct knowledge from experts in the field. All clinical topics of relevance to anesthesiology are organized into 29 sections consisting of more than 180 chapters. The print version contains 166 chapters that cover all of the essential clinical topics, while an additional 17 chapters on subjects of interest to the more advanced practitioner can be freely accessed at www.cambridge.org/vacanti. Newer techniques such as ultrasound nerve blocks, robotic surgery and transesophageal echocardiography are included, and numerous illustrations and tables assist the reader in rapidly assimilating key information. This authoritative text is edited by distinguished Harvard Medical School faculty, with contributors from many of the leading academic anesthesiology departments in the United States and an introduction from Dr S. R. Mallampati. This book is your essential companion when preparing for board review and recertification exams and in your daily clinical practice.