Contemporary Management and Prevention of Vaso-Occlusive Crises (VOCs) in Adults With Sickle Cell Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 089719002110266
Author(s):  
Salome Bwayo Weaver ◽  
Dhakrit Rungkitwattanakul ◽  
Divita Singh

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hematological disorder that primarily affects individuals of African descent from sub-Saharan Africa and along the mediterranean. The main complications leading to hospitalizations include vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) and acute chest syndrome (ACS). Therefore, the main objective of this paper was to identify and evaluate evidence-based management and prevention of VOCs in patients with SCD. A literature search of PubMed, Medline Cochrane and Google Scholar database (January 1985 to April 2020) was performed using the following search terms “vaso-occlusive crises”, “sickle cell disease”, “hydroxyurea”, “L-glutamine”, “voxelotor”, “crizanlizumab”, “treatment” and “prevention” as well as a combination of these terms. All English-language interventional studies assessing the efficacy and safety of VOC outcomes were evaluated. Literature was excluded if published in a language other than English or if it was a review article. A total of 69 articles were identified and there were 7 articles that met the search criteria. Majority of the studies focused on mean and median annual rates of VOCs as primary outcomes while median time to first sickle cell crises, median rates of hospitalizations etc were evaluated as secondary outcomes. After reviewing the literature, many patients with VOCs will still benefit from hydroxyurea therapy since long term efficacy data and cost is still a concern for the newer agents including L-glutamine, voxelotor and crizanlizumab. Other factors such as cost or compliance may also be taken into consideration when making recommendations for therapy.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okocha Emmanuel Chide ◽  
Joyce Gyamfi ◽  
Nessa Ryan ◽  
Babalola Oluwatoyin ◽  
Etuk Eno-Abasi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Sickle cell disease, the inherited blood disorder characterized by anemia, severe pain and other vaso-occlusive complications, acute chest syndrome, disproportionate hospitalization, and early mortality, has significant financial, social, and psychosocial impacts and drains individuals, families, and health systems globally. Hydroxyurea could improve the health of the 300,000individuals borneach year with sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa; however, challenges to adoption and adherence persist. This study assessed the barriersto therapeutic use of hydroxyurea forsickle cell diseasewithin the Nigerian healthcare system, specifically from the level of the patient, provider, and health system.Methods:A cross-sectionalsurvey was administered to physicians (n=70), nurses or counselors (n=17), and patients or their caregivers (n=33) at 13 health centers.Results: The majority of physicians (74.3%) prescribe hydroxyurea, and half stated hydroxyurea is the standard of care. Among clinicians, barriers includedlimited knowledge of the drug, as well as low self-efficacy to prescribe among physicians and to counsel among nurses;perceived side effects;perceived patient preference for traditional medicine;cost for patient and expense of accompanying laboratory monitoring;and limited availability of the drug and equipment for laboratory monitoring. Among patients and caregivers, barriers included lack of knowledge; perceived side effects; cost;religious beliefs of disease causation; and lack of pediatric formulation.Conclusions: Findings suggest that patient, provider, and health systems-level interventionsare needed to improve hydroxyurea uptake among providers and adherence among patients with sickle cell disease in Nigeria. Interventions such as patient education, provider training, and policy change could address the disproportionate burden of sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa and thus improve health equity.


Author(s):  
Arafa Said Salim ◽  
Emmy Mwita ◽  
Joseph Sarfo Antwi ◽  
Olamide Agunkejoye ◽  
Paul Mdliva

2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adebayo C Atanda ◽  
Yahya Aliyu ◽  
Oluwafunmilayo Atanda ◽  
Aliyu Babadoko ◽  
Aisha Suleiman ◽  
...  

Introduction: Anemia has been implicated in heart failure. Existing literatures, involving predominantly African-Americans, suggests that Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) maybe linked to various cardiovascular complications including pulmonary hypertension and left venticular dysfunction. Peculiarly, our study involves exclusively Sub-Saharan population. Method: We conducted a cross sectional observational study of 208 hydroxyurea-naive consecutive SCD patients aged 10-52 years at steady state and 94 healthy non-matched controls who were studied in an out patient clinic in Sub-Saharan Africa. SCD patients were required to have electrophoretic or liquid chromatography documentation of major sickling phenotypes. Control group was required to have non-sickling phenotypes. Cardiac measurements were performed with TransThoracic Echo according to American Society of Echocardiography guidelines. Hemoglobin level was also obtained. Results: Hemoglobin level in SCD group (8.5+/- 1.5) was significant (P<0.001) compared to control (13.8+/- 1.7). Although SCD group had significantly higher values of left ventricular (LV) size, there was no qualitative evidence of LV dysfunction. SCD group had higher values of Ejection Fraction but not statistically significant. There was no evidence of LV wall stiffening to impair proper filling in SCD group, with the ratio of early to late ventricular filling velocities, E/A ratio elevated (1.7+/-0.4 compared to 1.6+/- 0.4; P=0.010). Right ventricular systolic pressure was determined using the formula of 4x Tricuspid Reugurgitant jet (TRV) square as an indirect measurement of Pulmonary arterial systolic pressure. SCD patients had significantly higher mean±SD values for tricuspid regurgitant jet velocity than did the controls (2.1±0.6 vs. 1.8±0.5; p= 0.001). Within the SCD group, there was no clear pattern of worsening diastolic function with increased TRV. Furthermore, E/A had a significant positive relationship with jet velocity in bivariate analysis (R=0.20; P=0.013). Conclusions: We were unable to demonstrate existence of anemia-associated left ventricular dysfunction in Sub-Saharan African with SCD. Further studies is required to highlight the reason behind this finding.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 2173-2173
Author(s):  
Arwa Fraiwan ◽  
Muhammad Noman Hasan ◽  
Ran An ◽  
Amy J. Rezac ◽  
Nicholas J. Kocmich ◽  
...  

Nigeria leads the world in the number of cases of sickle cell disease (SCD). An estimated 150,000 babies are born annually in Nigeria with SCD, a heredity disorder, and 70-90% die before age 5. Only a small portion of affected infants and children in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) reach adolescence. Over 650 children die per day in sub-Saharan Africa from SCD. These dismal statistics are in sharp contrast to outcomes in high-income countries (HICs) where more than 90% of SCD patients reach adulthood. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 70% of deaths could be prevented with a low cost diagnostic and treatment plan. Meaningful preventive care and treatment cannot be implemented without a structured plan for early diagnosis and patient tracking.Early diagnosis requires improved access to parents and guardians of children with SCD, and gaining this access remains a challenge in most of SSA. In 2015, Nigeria's Kano state government, with support from foreign partners, established a community-based program for newborn registration. This platform provides unique access to newborn babies in one of Nigeria's most populous cities, but still lacks a functioning patient testing, tracking, and monitoring system, which we plan to address in our ongoing study. This study will introduce mobile health in a low-income country with low literacy rate and hopefully accustom that segment of the population to more varied mobile health applications that will ultimately improve their health in the long run. Our current operational platform in Kano, Nigeria provides access to a large population with a high prevalence of SCD. We have previously completed pilot testing of 315 subjects for SCD using our microchip electrophoresis test. We are planning to test up to 4,500 additional subjects less than 5 years of age at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital. The hospital staff includes 97 physicians and 415 nurses and outpatient clinics serve about 30,000 patients monthly. The maternity department has a 200-bed capacity and the antenatal clinic performs about 1,000 deliveries and serves an average of 3,000 mothers monthly. Enrollment is planned to start on September 15, 2019 and medical staff are currently being trained to run the tests. Our study is registered in the United States National Library of Medicine's ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03948516). Our technology is uniquely paired with an automatic reader and an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and patient management solution to record POC test results, register new cases, and track patients for follow-up (Fig. 1). The reader enables automated interpretation of test results, local and remote test data storage, and includes geolocation (Global Positioning System) (Fig. 2). The system will generate reports for all cases of SCD, track hospital visits, appointments, lab tests, and will have mobile and dashboard applications for tracking patients and samples. The application will be installed on mobile devices provided to users. The proposed system will be compliant with the existing privacy standards to handle medical data (e.g., HIPAA in the US and GDPR in the EU). All communications between the parties will be secured via end-to-end encryption as a safeguard. We anticipate that our project will increase the rates of screening, diagnosis and timely treatment of SCD in Kano State of Nigeria. The project's broader impact will likely be the ability to track and monitor screening, disease detection, diagnosis and treatment, which can be scaled up to the whole nation of Nigeria, then to sub-Saharan Africa. The data obtained and analyzed will be the first of their kind and will be used to inform the design of programs to improve access to, and availability of, effective care for this underserved populations. The importance of increased access to diagnosis and treatment should not be underestimated - it is crucial for realizing effective management of people with SCD. The impact can be enhanced by complementing diagnosis and patient tracking with education for the families so they can provide or seek the necessary preventative treatment. Identification of the location of the patients in need would help identify the areas where family, parent, caregiver education should be provided. Disclosures Fraiwan: Hemex Health, Inc.: Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. Hasan:Hemex Health, Inc.: Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties. An:Hemex Health, Inc.: Patents & Royalties. Thota:Hemex Health, Inc.: Employment. Gurkan:Hemex Health, Inc.: Consultancy, Employment, Equity Ownership, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (157) ◽  
pp. 200054
Author(s):  
Michele Arigliani ◽  
Atul Gupta

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a life-threatening hereditary blood disorder that affects millions of people worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This condition has a multi-organ involvement and highly vascularised organs, such as the lungs, are particularly affected. Chronic respiratory complications of SCD involve pulmonary vascular, parenchymal and airways alterations. A progressive decline of lung function often begins in childhood. Asthma, sleep-disordered breathing and chronic hypoxaemia are common and associated with increased morbidity. Pulmonary hypertension is a serious complication, more common in adults than in children. Although there is a growing attention towards respiratory care of patients with SCD, evidence regarding the prognostic meaning and optimal management of pulmonary issues in children with this condition is limited.This narrative review presents state-of-the-art evidence regarding the epidemiology, pathophysiology and therapeutic options for chronic respiratory complications commonly seen in paediatric patients with SCD. Furthermore, it highlights the gaps in the current knowledge and indicates future directions for studies that aim to improve our understanding of chronic respiratory complications in children with SCD.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1031-1042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Halima Bello-Manga ◽  
Michael R. DeBaun ◽  
Adetola A. Kassim

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e2013062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ansong ◽  
Alex Osei-Akoto ◽  
Delaena Ocloo ◽  
Kwaku Ohene-Frempong Ohene-Frempong

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disorder of haemoglobin in sub-Saharan Africa. This commentary focuses on the management options available and the challenges that health care professionals in developing countries face in caring for patients with SCD. In developing countries like Ghana, newborn screening is now being implemented on a national scale.  Common and important morbidities associated with SCD are vaso-occlusive episodes, infections, Acute Chest Syndrome (ACS), Stroke and hip necrosis. Approaches to the management of these morbidities are far advanced in the developed countries. The differences in setting and resource limitations in developing countries bring challenges that have a major influence in management options in developing countries. Obviously clinicians in developing countries face challenges in managing SCD patients. However understanding the disease, its progression, and instituting the appropriate preventive methods are paramount in its management. Emphasis should be placed on newborn screening, anti-microbial prophylaxis, vaccination against infections, and training of healthcare workers, patients and caregivers. These interventions are affordable in developing countries.


Hematology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2005 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lottenberg ◽  
Kathryn L. Hassell

Abstract The application of evidence-based medicine to the management of adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) is currently primarily driven by clinical expertise and patient preference, as there is a paucity of randomized controlled trial (RCT) data to guide decision-making. A summary of SCD management principles in the areas of health care maintenance, transfusion therapy, treatment and prevention of painful episodes, acute chest syndrome, stroke, renal disease, contraception and pregnancy, and priapism is predominantly based on the authors’ interpretation of available observational studies as well as the opinions of experts in SCD. RCTs impacting current practices address use of hydroxyurea to prevent painful episodes and acute chest syndrome, intensity of pre-operative transfusion, transfusion during pregnancy, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy for proteinuria, but most issues in adult SCD care have not been rigorously studied and management may not be appropriately extrapolated from pediatric data. While challenging clinical problems need to be addressed by RCTs, there is also the need for development of practice guidelines using formal methodological strategies. This brief review is not a substitute for the process but provides a literature-based approach to making treatment decisions when caring for adults with SCD.


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