[New frontier in perioperative blood component therapy--preface and comments]

The latest revision of Japanese practical guidelines for the blood component therapy, edited by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2005, consisted of several crucial points including: emergency red cell transfusion for critically ill patients; the computer crossmatch; and non-erythrocyte blood component therapy based on diagnosis for coagulopathy. The guidelines issued by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists as well as the Japan Society of Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapy (2008) further focused on the strategy for perioperative massive blood loss. Seven feature articles following this opening article summarizes the topics for the new frontier in perioperative blood component therapy in Japan.