Coagulation and Blood Transfusion, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1991 Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Symposium on Blood Transfusion, Groningen 1990, organized by the Red Cross Blood Bank Groningen-Drenthe Developments in Hematology and Immunology Series, Vol. 26

With great pleasure I welcome you to the City of Groningen. In more than one way there is cause for celebration. Today marks the third lustrum of the annual international sympo­ sium on blood transfusion, organized by the Rode Kruis Bloedbank Groningen-Drenthe. In my opinion it has been a remarkable initiative of the Bloedbank, to start organizing a scientific conference, as it did, in 1976. It meant, among others, that in case of success the initiative would grow to be an annual item on the international congress calen­ der. It also meant that a possible third lustrum would coincide with the celebration of the 950th anniversary of the City of Groningen. I am happy to note that the initiative has been successful: over the past fourteen years the Rode Kruis Bloedbank Groningen-Drenthe has succeeded in organizing an annual symposium on blood transfusion, with a different theme each year, and with an average attendance of 250 participants from some 26 countries world-wide. The platform created with the special formula of the symposium, for science and industry, has been well balanced and beneficial to both. Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I like to compliment the organizers with the success that they have attained. Allow me to men­ tion the name of just one person, in whom I like to thank everyone who has been involved in creating the annual Bloedbank-symposia: my warm congratulations to Dr. Smit Sibinga and his staff.

I. Principles and fundamentals.- The mechanisms of thrombin formation.- Structure-function relationships of human coagulation proteins.- The role of calcium in coagulation and anticoagulation.- Effect of blood collection on the hemostatic potential of coagulation proteins.- Factor VIII yields from anticoagulant exchanged Haemonetics Ultralite™ plasma.- Discussion.- II.Preservation aspects.- Platelet function preservation.- Platelet adhesion to the vessel wall.- Trends in the production and use of coagulation factor concentrates.- Immunoaffinity purification of Factor VIII/von Willebrand factor complex.- Structural and functional properties of recombinant coagulation factors.- Discussion.- III. Laboratory Aspects.- Platelet counting and function testing.- Selection of platelet apheresis donors for alloimmunized patients by ELISA platelet crossmatch versus HLA-matching.- Clinical efficacy of platelet concentrates.- Principles of coagulation factor assays.- Standardization of clotting factor assays.- Protein C and S in swiss blood donors.- Clinical efficacy of clotting factor concentrates: survival, recovery and hemostatic capacity.- Discussion.- IV. Clinical consequences.- Principles in the treatment of bleeding.- The effect of chronic exposure to clotting factor concentrates on the immune system.- Liver transplantation and blood usage.- The use of aprotinin in cardiopulmonary bypass and the impact on hemostasis and blood transfusion.- Discussion.