Trusted Resources: Evidence & Education
Scientific literature and patient education texts
How Is Sickle Cell Disease Treated?
source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
year: 2020
summary/abstract:Babies with sickle cell disease (SCD) should be referred to a doctor or provider group that has experience taking care of people with this disease. The doctor might be a hematologist (a doctor with special training in blood diseases) or an experienced general pediatrician, internist, or family practitioner.
For infants, the first SCD visit should take place before 8 weeks of age.
If someone was born in a country that doesn’t perform newborn SCD screening, he or she might be diagnosed with SCD later in childhood. These people should also be referred as soon as possible for special SCD care.
All people who have SCD should see their SCD care providers regularly. Regularly means every 3 to 12 months, depending on the person’s age. The SCD doctor or team can help to prevent problems by:
Examining the person
Giving medicines and immunizations
Performing tests
Educating families about the disease and what to watch out for
Related Content
-
Investigational Therapy Altemia Achieves Main Endpoints in Pediatric Sickle Cell TrialSancilio Pharmaceuticals says its invest...
-
When Cracking Down On Opioids Means Tougher Access For Sickle Cell PatientsMany people with sickle cell disease wil...
-
A Multiyear Cross-Sectional Study of Guideline Adherence for the Timeliness of Opioid Administration in Children Wit...Study objective: The National Heart, Lu...
-
Prophylactic versus selective blood transfusion for sickle cell disease in pregnancyBACKGROUND: Pregnant women with sickle ...
-
ATS Releases Guidelines for Home Oxygen Therapy in Children With Sickle Cell DiseaseThe American Thoracic Society (ATS) rele...
-
What it’s like to be 17 and living with sickle cell diseaseTre Adegoroye is 17 and was diagnosed wi...
-
NHLBI Stepping Up Efforts to Apprise SCD Patients of Therapies and TrialsWide interest in a CBS 60 Minutes story ...
To improve your experience on this site, we use cookies. This includes cookies essential for the basic functioning of our website, cookies for analytics purposes, and cookies enabling us to personalize site content. By clicking on 'Accept' or any content on this site, you agree that cookies can be placed. You may adjust your browser's cookie settings to suit your preferences. More Information
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.