Common problems in sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait. Symptoms of pallor, fever, abdominal and joint pain, and swelling of the liver, spleen, hands and feet first appear near the latter part of the first year of life. Intravascular sickling affects all organs. For clinical and therapeutic purposes, exacerbations may be classified as vasoocclusive or pain, aplastic, hemolytic or sequestration crisis. In addition to infection, complications include severe pain, cerebrovascular accidents, cholelithiasis, bone infarction, heart failure, hypotension and priapism. The most common cause of early childhood death is septicemia or meningitis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Complications may be reduced or prevented by early diagnosis through newborn screening, patient education, routine immunizations, administration of folic acid, pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations, penicillin prophylaxis, and early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of complications.