Treatment Strategies for Sickle Cell Disease- Approaches Challenges and Patient Care Considerations Treatment Strategies for Sickle Cell Disease- Approaches Challenges and Patient Care Considerations

Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which an individual does not have enough healthy erythrocytes to transport oxygen throughout the body (Inusa et al., 2019). Many treatment strategies can be used to manage this condition. Management of this condition is aimed at relieving pain symptoms, preventing complications, and avoiding pain episodes.

The first treatment strategy may aim at preventing infections. Individuals who have sickle cell anemia are given antibiotics such as penicillin. These antibiotics are important in preventing infections such as pneumonia, which can be life-threatening to individuals, especially children diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia. The second treatment strategy is aimed at reducing and alleviating pain episodes. Some medications can be given to relieve the symptoms. They include hydroxyurea, which reduces the frequency of painful crises (Engel et al., 2020). This medication, however, poses a challenge to managing sickle cell since it increases the risk of infections. Other medications that can reduce the frequency of pain cries include L-glutamine, crizanlizumab, and opioid narcotics, which are strong painkillers (Engel et al., 2020).

The final strategy that can be used is blood transfusion. This involves giving the patient red blood cells from healthy donors. This strategy helps increase the number of healthy red blood cells, which will help alleviate sickle cell symptoms and complications (Engel et al., 2020). Blood transfusion, however, comes with its risk, which leads to challenges in managing sickle cell disease. The risk associated with blood transfusion includes immune responses by the recipient, making it hard to locate any potential donors, infections, and excess irons in the body. Excess iron can lead to damage to body organs such as the liver and heart. Individuals undergoing regular blood transfusions thus require additional treatments to reduce their iron levels.

References

Engel, E. R., Howard, A. L., Ankus, E. J., & Rico, J. F. (2020). Advances in sickle cell disease management. Advances in Pediatrics, 67, 57-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yapd.2020.03.001

Inusa, B., Hsu, L., Kohli, N., Patel, A., Ominu-Evbota, K., Anie, K., & Atoyebi, W. (2019). Sickle cell disease—Genetics, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and treatment. International Journal of Neonatal Screening, 5(2), 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/