All You Need To Know About Sickle Cell Disease – A Blood Borne Disorder.
WHAT IS Sickle Cell Disease? Sickle-cell disease (SCD), also known as sicklecell anaemia (SCA), is a hereditary blood disorder, characterized by an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin molecule in red blood cells. Normally, your red blood cells are flexible and round, they move easily through your blood vessels. In sickle cell anaemia, the RBCs become rigid and sticky and are shaped like sickles. These irregularly shaped cells can get stuck in small blood vessels, which can slow or block blood flow and oxygen to parts of the body. When sickle-shaped cells block small blood vessels, less blood can each that part of the body. Tissue that does not receive a normal blood flow eventually becomes damaged. This is what causes the complications of sickle cell disease. There is currently no universal cure for sickle cell disease.
Symptoms that can be found to identify the disease? Some children with SCD will start to have problems early on, and some later. Early symptoms of SCD may include:
• Painful swelling of the hands and feet, known as dactylitis. • Fatigue or fussiness from anaemia. • A yellowish colour of the skin, known as jaundice, or whites of the eyes, known as icteris, that occurs when a large number of red cells hemolyze. The signs and symptoms of SCD will vary from person to person and can change over time.
Other symptoms include – • • • • • • •
Severe pain Anaemia Chest pain and difficulty breathing Strokes Joint pain and arthritis and bone infarctions Blockage of blood flow in the spleen or liver Severe infections
• Health maintenance for patients with sickle cell disease starts with early diagnosis, preferably in the new-born. Treatment of complications often includes antibiotics, pain management, intravenous fluids, blood transfusion and surgery all backed by psychosocial support. • Like all patients with chronic disease patients are best managed in a comprehensive multi-disciplinary program of care.
Cure For Sickle Cell Disease
• Blood transfusions help benefit sickle cell disease patients by reducing recurrent pain crises, risk of stroke and other complications. Because red blood cells contain iron, and there is no natural way for the body to eliminate it, patients who receive repeated blood transfusions can accumulate iron in the body until it reaches toxic levels. • It is important to remove excess iron from the body, because it can gather in the heart, liver, and other organs and may lead to organ damage.
Role of Steam Cells in Sickle Cell Disease – Stem cell transplant is one of the most effective treatment for sickle cell disease. A lot of patients with sickle cell disease have undergone stem cell transplants from a matched sibling donor. Patients with successful transplants were completely cured of sickle cell disease, with no further episodes of pain.
Stem cell transplant is performed in young patients with severe sickle cell disease who have a matched sibling donor. Stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood from a related donor has also been curative in a small number of patients. That’s the importance of Steam cell banking in today’s generation. It is a very crucial method to store blood from the umbilical cord between a new-born and his mother, being a matched donor, the mother is the best possible contributor to the child’s good health.
What can be done to help the situation - What Can You Do to Stay Well?
With the right precautions, teens with sickle cell disease can do most of the stuff other teens do. To stay as healthy as possible, take these steps: • • • • •
Eat a balanced, healthy diet. Take medications, including folic acid supplements, as prescribed. Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Avoid extreme cold or heat. Exercise regularly, but in moderation. Exercise is important for staying healthy, but overdoing it can trigger a crisis in some people, particularly if they become dehydrated, overheated, or exhausted. • Get plenty of rest.
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