The BSH Guidelines Official Podcast

Professor Guy Pratt discusses the investigation, diagnosis and management of smouldering myeloma. This podcast is based on the British Society for Haematology’s 2024 Good Practice Paper, Diagnosis and management of smouldering myeloma. 

This guidance update from the BSH is focussed primarily on non-surgical invasive procedures, simply termed ‘procedures’ in this document, with the primary objective of giving pragmatic advice where evidence is limited. This guidance also aims to reduce unnecessary laboratory testing, inappropriate use of blood products and unnecessary delays in therapeutic procedures.¹ It should be read in conjunction with the Interventional Radiology (IR) procedure bleeding risk guidance produced by the British Society of Interventional Radiology (BSIR) and the BSH.² Recommendations are predominantly based on evidence from adult patients and therefore may not be applicable to neonates or very young children.

Since the last version of the BCSH (British Committee for Standards in Haematology) Guidelines for Specification, implementation and management of  Information Technology (IT) in hospital transfusion laboratories was published¹ there has been continued development in IT applications for use in transfusion medicine. IT has made a major contribution to blood safety throughout the transfusion chain, and there is increasing use of IT solutions to allow laboratories to meet some of the challenges of the Blood Safety and Quality Regulations (F24) SI 50/2005 (as amended) legislation ², such as traceability. These guidelines update those published in 2014, to reflect new developments. Further requirements such as the provision of extensively genotyped matched red cell units have also been addressed.  

A podcast recording by Dr Deepa J. Arachchillage on the guideline: Diagnosis and management of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia: Third edition.

Guideline on the Investigation and management of a raised serum ferritin: A podcast recording of a conversation between Dr Jenny Tam and Dr Wayne Thomas.

Antenatal screening/testing of pregnant women should be carried out according to the guidelines of the National Health Service (NHS) Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme. Newborn screening and, when necessary, follow-up testing and referral, should be carried out according to the guidelines of the NHS Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Screening Programme. All babies under 1 year of age arriving in the United Kingdom should be offered screening for sickle cell disease (SCD). Preoperative screening for SCD should be carried out in patients from ethnic groups in which there is a significant prevalence of the condition. Emergency screening with a sickle solubility test must always be followed by definitive analysis. Laboratories performing antenatal screening should utilise methods that are capable of detecting significant variants and are capable of quantitating haemoglobins A₂ and F at the cut-off points required by the national antenatal screening programme. The laboratory must ensure a provisional report is available for antenatal patients within three working days from sample receipt.