How to manage Sickle Cell Disease

Many physicians are often not adequately equiped with the skills for managing sickle cell disease. Because of this many patients suffer discrimination or a certain level of apathy when it comes to addressing their clinical symptoms. While it is understandable that the disease is unique in its own way and is often challenging to manage, resources abound that can guide decision making and inform the physician of what to expect and how to tackle these problems. There is a book dedicated to the medical and social issues associated with sickle cell disease for both children and adults. It is divided into four sections to cover Diagnosis and Counselling, Health Maintainance, Treatment of Acute and Chronic Complications and Special Topics. The title is The Management of Sickle Cell Disease NIH Publication Number 02-2117 and was produced by the NIH National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Division of Blood Diseases and Resources.

We hope physicians and other providers will refer to this to help them in their decision making.