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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 is an excellent way for the healthy community
to help the sick. However, service providers and patients have much
to gain from the establishment of guidelines concerning when and
how it is used. An important first step would be to introduce
informed consent for transfusion recipients. Discussions with blood
banks and assessment of clinical demand would also be necessary,
taking into account the needs of patients and physicians, and the
availability of products. Unfortunately, the efficacy and safety of
transfusion products can be difficult to ascertain. Furthermore,
although major advances have been made in safety, the risks of
giving and receiving blood are still seen as high. It is vital to
learn what underlies that perception and how to counter it. The
policies and protocols used to establish surgical criteria for
blood transfusions should be explored. Finally, clinical audits can
help evaluate the risk: benefit ratio of transfusion; they may be
carried out by hospital transfusion committees but are likely to be
more successful with the support of national and international
legislative and regulatory bodies. The implementation of
appropriate initiatives now will improve the outlook for the future
of transfusion medicine, perhaps with ex-vivo expanded haemopoietic
cell therapy as the next milestone. All these key points and
controversies are explored in this book, which paints a broad
picture of the current status and future trends in transfusion
medicine.
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