This book was inspired by significant advances throughout the 1990s in the understanding of pathogenesis and treatment of aplastic anaemia.
Aplastic anaemia is a rare and devastating disease. The 5-year survival of severe aplastic anaemia has improved from less than 20 per cent to greater than 75 per cent over the past two decades. This impressive change has been due to the determined close collaboration of a small group of experts worldwide. It is thanks to the inspiration of Hubert Schrezenmeier and Andrea Bacigalupo that the core collaborators within the international aplastic anaemia group have contributed to this book.
The book is up to date, and gives clear information on pathogenesis as well as practical clinical guidance. This work should be extremely valuable to general haematologists and haematoncologists who may only see five to 10 patients with aplastic anaemia in their professional lives.
Patients and their families may also find the clinical sections of this book helpful and encouraging. Often patients are given or obtain inaccurate and sometimes gloomy information about treatment and prognosis before they are referred to an expert centre.
Finally, scientists interested in the mechanisms of bone marrow failure will find interesting and relevant up-dates in this book. As one of the authors once remarked 'It's very difficult to study something which isn't there'.
Overall, this book is highly recommended, and will remain valuable for many years to come.