Living With Sickle Cell Anemia
Chasta D. Jones
Text College
Living With Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle cell anemia is a condition where there is not enough healthy red blood cells to carry enough oxygen within a persons body. The red blood cells become rigid, sticky, and shaped like crescent moons or sickles. The cells irregular shapes can get stuck in the blood vessels causing blockage of blood flow though the body. The sickle cells become weak and break apart and die. This leaves a person without a good supply of red blood cells. As of today most people with sickle cell anemia are not cured, but with treatment life is much better with relief of pain and other related problems of the disorder. A patient is usually diagnosed …show more content…
The babies heel is pricked for blood and the blood is collected on special paper that has circles on it to be covered with the blood. The special paper is then sent to a special laboratory to analyze for abnormal hemoglobin. The laboratory diagnosis of sickle cell anemia is found on the basis of the results of a CBC count, isoelectric focusing, hemoglobin electrophoresis, and high-performance liquid chromatography (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006). A patients blood test will show to have elevated reticulocyte counts if he or she has a sickle cell disease. If the test shows abnormal finding, and the baby is found to have a sickle cell disease, the parents will be notified. Then the doctor will repeat the test to confirm for accuracy of the diagnosis. If a parent has abnormal hemoglobin S gene they may prefer to have a prenatal screening to look for the abnormal sickle hemoglobin gene in the fetus. The test can be done at 8 to 10 weeks of the mothers pregnancy, which is called a chorionic villus (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006). Another option the mother may choose is to have an amniocentesis at 15 weeks gestation (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006) . This test is done by having having a sample of amniotic fluid drawn from the surrounding of the baby while in the mother 's
Chasta D. Jones
Text College
Living With Sickle Cell Anemia Sickle cell anemia is a condition where there is not enough healthy red blood cells to carry enough oxygen within a persons body. The red blood cells become rigid, sticky, and shaped like crescent moons or sickles. The cells irregular shapes can get stuck in the blood vessels causing blockage of blood flow though the body. The sickle cells become weak and break apart and die. This leaves a person without a good supply of red blood cells. As of today most people with sickle cell anemia are not cured, but with treatment life is much better with relief of pain and other related problems of the disorder. A patient is usually diagnosed …show more content…
The babies heel is pricked for blood and the blood is collected on special paper that has circles on it to be covered with the blood. The special paper is then sent to a special laboratory to analyze for abnormal hemoglobin. The laboratory diagnosis of sickle cell anemia is found on the basis of the results of a CBC count, isoelectric focusing, hemoglobin electrophoresis, and high-performance liquid chromatography (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006). A patients blood test will show to have elevated reticulocyte counts if he or she has a sickle cell disease. If the test shows abnormal finding, and the baby is found to have a sickle cell disease, the parents will be notified. Then the doctor will repeat the test to confirm for accuracy of the diagnosis. If a parent has abnormal hemoglobin S gene they may prefer to have a prenatal screening to look for the abnormal sickle hemoglobin gene in the fetus. The test can be done at 8 to 10 weeks of the mothers pregnancy, which is called a chorionic villus (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006). Another option the mother may choose is to have an amniocentesis at 15 weeks gestation (Platt & Sacerdote, 2006) . This test is done by having having a sample of amniotic fluid drawn from the surrounding of the baby while in the mother 's