The benefit-to-risk ratio of blood products needs constant evaluation. Blood products, as therapeutic agents,have had the test of time but lack the evidence we expect from other medicinals. Blood, an organ, is used as a pharmaceutical agent by the medical profession, due to the achievements in collection, processing, banking, and distribution. The fact that the most common risk of blood transfusion is blood delivery error supports the notion that blood is handled as a pharmaceutical agent. Over the last few decades, the risk of blood transfusion and associated complications has raised concerns about safety of blood by both the public and health-care providers. At the same time, experience with patients refusing blood
and data on blood conservation brought to light the real possibility of other modalities to treat perisurgical anemia and to avoid it with blood conservation methods. In addition to risks and complications, data became available demonstrating the behavioural aspect of transfusion practice versus an evidence-based practice. In this book, the authors address many aspects of modern transfusion medicine, known blood conservation (SABM,www.sabm.org) modalities, and new approaches to the treatment of perisurgical anemia, as well as special clinical
considerations. This approach, now termed “blood management” by the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM, www.sabm.org), incorporates appropriate transfusion practice and blood conservation to deliver the lowest risk and highest benefit to the patient. In addition, it brings all these modalities to the patient’s bedside and above all is a patient-centered approach. Blood management is a multidisciplinary, multimodality concept that focuses on the patient by improving patient outcome, making it one of the most intriguing and rewarding fields in medicine.