International Society of Blood Transfusion
| Formation | 1935 |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
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Membership
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>1,600 |
|
President
|
Vengetassen (Ravi) Reddy (2016-2018) |
|
President Elect
|
Martin L. Olsson (assumes office in 2018) |
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Past President
|
Celso Bianco (2014-2016) |
|
Executive Director
|
Judith F. Chapman |
| Website | http://www.isbtweb.org/ |
The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) is a scientific society, founded in 1935, which aims to promote the study of blood transfusion, and to spread the know-how about the manner in which blood transfusion medicine and science best can serve the patient's interests. The society's central office is in Amsterdam, and there are around 1700 members in 97 countries. Currently, the President is Mr. Ravi Reddy.
The Society organizes an international congress every other even year and two regional congresses in odd years, one in Europe and one in Asia. ISBT advocates standardisation and harmonisation in the field of blood transfusion. The other major impact on the transfusion community is the classification of various Human blood group systems under a common nomenclature. ISBT's coordination also extends to obtaining donors with rare antigens, a process that often involves international searches, and a common terminology is critical to that process.
The history of ISBT was described by Dr. Hans Erik Heier in 2015. He distinguished four phases in the formation of the society as we know it today.
The formation of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, or Societé International de Transfusion Sanguine, as it was called at the time, was initiated in Rome at a meeting between representatives from 20 nations, the International Red Cross and the Bogdanov institute in Moscow. Blood transfusion was a rather new therapeutic option, and therefore it was decided that transfusion-specific congresses should be organised, to highlight the potential importance of transfusion. To organize these congresses, a society was needed.
After it was decided that a society dedicated to organizing transfusion-related congresses should be created, it did not take long until ISBT was founded. In 1937 in Paris a Central Office (CO) was set up, led by newly appointed Secretary General Arnault Tzanck. Only two years later the CO activities had to be suspended in 1939 because of the Second World War (WW2).
In the period surrounding WW2 immunohaematology and transfusion technology had developed almost explosively. Blood banks were created, voluntary blood donations came in great numbers in the allied nations to support the fight for a free society, plasma-transfusion became a standard anti-shock treatment, Rh and Kell systems were discovered, and industrial blood plasma fractionation was developed to produce albumin, which can be used as a substitute for plasma. In 1947 the first post-war congress was organised in Turin, Italy. Here some specific future goals were laid out to complement the main activity of the Society, the organization of congresses. - Non-commercialisation of blood and –derivatives - Oversee and initiate standardization of equipment, reagents and nomenclature. - Stimulate the set-up of central transfusion organisations for every country, under flag of the National Red Cross Society, unless otherwise organised.
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