Sickle Cell Treatment

Sickle Cell over-the-counter pain relievers Blood Transfusions  Bone marrow transplant

Sickle cell affects everyone differently. Current therapies mainly focus on managing the symptoms of sickle cell and require lifelong use. Recent progress in sickle cell has led to treatment options that have the potential to help manage acute and chronic symptoms of the disease.

Treatment options include:

Sickle Cell Treatments

Sickle cell treatments may help reduce the frequency and severity of pain crises, and reduce blood transfusions and hospitalizations.

Medications to Manage Pain

Chronic pain is prevalent among people with sickle cell and is commonly treated with over-the-counter pain relievers. Pain medications may also be prescribed by a doctor to treat acute and chronic pain.

Blood Transfusions

Blood transfusions can help relieve symptoms of sickle cell and potentially prevent stroke and other complications in high-risk patients. There are 2 types of transfusions used for people with sickle cell: A simple transfusion and a red blood cell exchange. In a simple transfusion, donated blood is given to a patient; in a red blood cell exchange, a patient’s red blood cells are removed and replaced with healthy red blood cells. Blood transfusions are a common procedure but risks can include an immune response to the donated blood, infection, and excess iron buildup in the body (iron overload).

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (Bone marrow transplant)

A hematopoietic cell transplant (also called a bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant), is a type of treatment that replaces blood stem cells with cells from a donor. Bone marrow transplants are currently the only treatment that can lead to a cure; however, they are mostly limited to people who are under the age of 18 and have a match-related donor available. Bone marrow transplants do not treat the underlying gene mutation that causes sickle cell.

If you want to learn more about these options, it’s important to talk to your healthcare team about the benefits and potentially severe risks involved.