The pace of change in transfusion medicine is relentless, with new scientific and technological developments and continuing efforts to improve transfusion practice. This sixth edition of Practical Transfusion Medicine has been updated significantly to reflect the rapid changes in transfusion medicine since the fifth edition was published in 2017.

The primary purpose of this edition remains the same as the first: to provide a compre­hensive guide to transfusion medicine. This book contains more depth of information than standard handbooks on transfusion medicine, whilst being more concise and approachable than a standard reference text.

This book covers the principles of transfusion medicine, the complications of transfusion, practice in blood centres and hospitals and clinical transfusion practice. This sixth edition includes a new section on patient blood management, cellular and tissue therapy, organ transplantation and the development of the evidence base for transfusion. It also features a new chapter on transfusion-associated circulatory overload to underline its importance as a complication of transfusion, and a reconfiguration of the section on clinical transfusion practice to allow consideration of the transfusion management of medical, surgical and haematology patients with and without bleeding.

This sixth edition of Practical Transfusion Medicine provides accessible and comprehensive coverage of the field of transfusion medicine. It is a standalone text that will be useful to clinical and scientific staff: not only for trainees who require an overview of the field, but also for established practitioners who are involved in some aspect of transfusion medicine and require a comprehensive, accessible reference book.