Sickle Cell Disease Program at Children’s Health

The Sickle Cell Disease Program at Children’s is one of the nation’s largest serving pediatric patients. It focuses on the prevention of disease complications and management using the newest treatment strategies, including hydroxyurea, chronic transfusions, stem cell (bone marrow) transplantation and state-of-the-art approaches to infection prevention, pain management and treatment of specific organ-related complications (chest syndrome, priapism, avascular necrosis of the femoral head, etc.).

Children’s Health offers standard treatment modalities, such as chronic blood transfusion programs, hydroxyurea therapy and stem cell transplantation. We are also studying molecular targeted treatment for pain control in sickle cell disease.

Hematologists on the medical staff at Children’s have spearheaded the development of a comprehensive set of diagnostic and management guidelines for children with sickle cell disease that have been endorsed by the Texas Department of Health.

Sickle cell patient information, such as every hospitalization and major complication, has been collected for 20 years on a computerized database, which helps improve continuity of care and research.