Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease inherited from the parents.
Sickle cell anemia causes the body to have only a slight amount of hemoglobin.
Red blood cells are sickle-shaped, causing slower clotting, and the patient will feel pain when clumps of red blood cells sickle shaped clog arteries.
Normal red blood cells was around 120 days in the bloodstream, but sickle red blood cells only live about 10 to 20 days.
This causes the bone marrow do not have enough time to produce red blood cells healthy to replace red blood cells that die.
This condition causes the body's own red blood cell count is low.
symptom
Sickle cell anemia is present when a child is born because the disease is inherited from parents genes.
Symptoms of sickle cell anemia varies from mild to severe, and may not appear until the child is four months old.
Some of the symptoms of sickle cell anemia include pale skin, cold extremities, shortness of breath due to lack of hemoglobin and oxygen to the lungs, dizziness, fever, and headache.
Pain or pain usually accompanies "sickle cell crisis", and may need hospitalization. The pain may appear suddenly.
Some people experience continuous pain, interspersed with episodes that can severely damage the quality of life.
complication
Sickle cell anemia can destroy the body's organs. Pain and swelling in the toe and ankle is one of the first signs of sickle cell anemia. Blockage of the blood vessels can also cause pain in the hands.
Sickle red blood cells can block blood flow to various organs, including the spleen, lungs, brain, eyes, and blood vessels supplying the heart and lungs.
Complications that may occur due to sickle cell anemia include:
- infection
- pneumonia
- Damage to eyes
- Disability caused by stroke hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke (due to lack of oxygen to the brain)
- Enlargement of the spleen
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension (increased pressure in the lungs)
- Ulcer (ulcers) on the feet due to poor blood flow to the skin
- Renal failure
- Gallstones, because too many red blood cells are destroyed the bilirubin in the blood stream to be much that can cause gallstones.
- Nausea and abdominal pain due to an attack on the content of bile and gallstones
treatment
Sickle cell anemia can not be cured. The drugs used by people with sickle cell anemia is usually to control pain and fatigue.
Bone marrow transplantation may be required for treatment of severe sickle cell anemia.
