Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)
“The term sickle cell disease (SCD) describes a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. People with SCD have abnormal hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin, in their red blood cells.
Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.
“Inherited” means that the disease is passed by genes from parents to their children. SCD is not contagious. A person cannot catch it, like a cold or infection, from someone else.
People who have SCD inherit two abnormal hemoglobin genes, one from each parent. In all forms of SCD, at least one of the two abnormal genes causes a person’s body to make hemoglobin S. When a person has two hemoglobin S genes, Hemoglobin SS, the disease is called sickle cell anemia. This is the most common and often most severe kind of SCD.
Hemoglobin SC disease and hemoglobin Sβ thalassemia (thal-uh-SEE-me-uh) are two other common forms of SCD.” – NHLBI
Current Guidelines for Treatment
Evidence-Based Management of Sickle Cell Disease
Guidelines for Standard of Care of Acute Painful Episodes in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease
Quick Guide: Evidence-Based Management of Sickle Cell Disease
Criteria for diagnosis: How Is Sickle Cell Disease Diagnosed?
Latest News
APS
Guideline for the Management of Acute and Chronic Pain in Sickle-Cell Disease
*Join the APS Sickle Cell Disease Shared Interest Group
IASP
Pain from Sickle Cell Disease Prompts Discussion at U.S. Meeting
Sickle Cell Pain, Second Edition
CDC Fact Sheets
What You Should Know About Sickle Cell Disease
Facts About Sickle Cell Disease
Clinical Trials
Participate in NHLBI Clinical Trials
NIH
Evidence-Based Management of Sickle Cell Disease: Expert Panel Report, 2014
Select Peer Reviewed Publications
Evaluation and Treatment of Sickle Cell Pain in the Emergency Department: Paths to a Better Future
Sickle cell pain: a critical reappraisal
Pain Management in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease – A Review
