Book

Description

Transfusion is among the most powerful interventions in emergency and critical care, yet much of veterinary practice rests on small, retrospective or extrapolated evidence. This illustrated clinical reference sets out how blood and blood products are used in critically ill and injured dogs and cats, and where the evidence stops. Ten chapters cover the physiology of oxygen delivery and haemostasis, donors, collection, processing and storage, red cell therapy for anaemia, and plasma, platelet and cryoprecipitate therapy for coagulopathy. They also cover haemorrhage, trauma and massive transfusion, transfusion in specific critical diseases, blood products and alternatives, compatibility testing, administration, monitoring and transfusion reactions, special patients such as cats and neonates, and the organisation, ethics and future of transfusion programmes. Each clinical topic follows a consistent format with an at-a-glance table, key points and common pitfalls, and four schematic figures illustrate the main principles. The book draws mainly on peer-reviewed literature from 2018 onwards and on consensus statements, and it flags small studies, conflicting results and evidence extrapolated from human medicine. It gives no doses, volumes per body weight or infusion rates. It is written for veterinary students, residents, emergency and critical care clinicians, internists, surgeons, veterinary nurses and technicians, and researchers.