About BMSS
Bloodless medicine, built on evidence.
An international, multidisciplinary society working to make transfusion-free care the standard — not the exception.
Bloodless Medicine & Surgery Society (BMSS) is an international multidisciplinary society of experts in blood transfusion avoidance. Founded in 2015, it is a unique medical society committed to improving clinical outcomes and protecting patients’ rights by promoting techniques of total avoidance of allogeneic blood transfusion based on current scientific evidence.
Blood transfusion is associated with hazards and adverse outcomes, but there is no established evidence of benefit. Additionally, some patients object to allogeneic blood for various reasons. BMSS promotes the science and practice of providing quality health care to patients without the use of allogeneic blood, with the aims of improving clinical outcomes and protecting patients’ rights. This science and practice is known as Bloodless Medicine and Surgery.
Bloodless Medicine and Surgery started as advocacy in the 1960s for patients who objected to blood transfusion. The advent of HIV in the 1980s brought issues of blood safety to the fore and gave BMS a more general appeal. Current practice is driven by evidence-based medicine, which has raised serious questions about the efficacy and adverse outcomes of transfusion — and highlighted the benefits of transfusion avoidance.
Evidence-based medicine in the 1990s challenged the efficacy of blood transfusion, which had been taken for granted for decades. Current scientific evidence suggests that transfusion is an independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality in virtually all categories of patients, but is of doubtful benefit in any category. BMS, by contrast, is associated with improved outcomes, including shorter hospital stays and lower mortality.
Our vision
Bloodless care — not as an alternative, but as the global standard of care for ethical and evidence-based medicine.
BMSS, founded 2015
Our objectives
- Promote the practice of BMS internationally, improving clinical outcomes and respecting patients’ rights.
- Promote the teaching and learning of BMS at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
- Disseminate scientific information about the techniques and benefits of BMS, and the hazards and doubtful benefit of allogeneic transfusion.
- Support the establishment of bloodless medicine, transfusion-free and blood conservation programmes in health institutions — especially in low- and middle-income countries.