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Sickle Cell Anemia

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Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which the body’s red blood cells become misshapen.
The red blood cells, which are normally round with a small indentation in the middle, become hard and crescent-shaped. They can’t fit through the small blood vessels and get stuck in the capillaries and block the blood flow. Oxygenated blood cannot get to the tissues, and this causes severe pain and in some cases, death of the tissues. Prolonged oxygen deprivation can even cause death, depending on the tissue affected, and many victims of sickle cell anemia have a shorter lifespan than people with normal blood cells.

Although sickle cell anemia as many symptoms, the most common sign of the disease is severe pain. The pain can be anywhere in the body but is often present in the back and stomach and occurs in episodes. These episodes are called sickling crises. To people who aren’t familiar with sickle cell anemia, the pain of the disease can be confused with ordinary stomach aches or back pain. Normal blood cells live about 120 days, or four months, but since the sickle cells are weak and fragile, they die after only ten or twenty days. This leads to a chronic deficiency in red blood cells. The hands and feet of a sickle cell anemia victim may become swollen due to sickled cells blocking blood flow out of them. Although less common, other symptoms of sickle cell anemia include frequent infections, vision problems, and delayed growth. More severe symptoms may include temporary or permanent paralysis due to the sickled cells blocking the flow of blood to certain parts of the body. Infections that can be exacerbated by the disease are a common cause of complications such as pneumonia. Another complication is pulmonary hypertension, which is high blood pressure and blockage in the arteries that are between the heart and the lungs. It is potentially fatal and the main sign is

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