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The efficacy of hydroxyurea in decreasing transfusion requirements and hospital admission in children with sickle cell disease

The burden of sickle cell disease lies in Africa where
resources are limited . Hydroxyurea may be an affordable
treatmentoption for these patients.
Purpose
To asses whether hydroxyurea has any effect in reducing
vaso-occlusive crises, hospitalization and transfusion
requirements in children with homozygous sickle cell
a n a e m i a . To e v a l u a t e t h e t o x i c i t y o f h y d r o x y u r e a .
M e t h o d s
T h i s i s a r e t r o s p e c t i v e , d e s c r i p t i v e s t u d y o f c l i n i c a l
and h a e m a t o l o g i c a l o u t c o m e s i n c h i l d r e n w i t h s i c k l e c e l l
a n a e m i a t r e a t e d w i t h h y d r o x y u r e a .
R e s u 1t s
Ten p a t i e n t s w e r e e v a l u a t e d . H y d r o x y u r e a d e c r e a s e d t h e
r a t e o f v a s o - o c c 1 u s i o n and d e c r e a s e d t h e t r a n s f u s i o n
r e q u i r e m e n t s . The c l i n i c a l and h a e m a t o l o g i c a l b e n e f i t s
w e r e g r e a t e s t when f o e t a l h a e m o b l o b i n was m a x i m a l . T h e r e
was no s h o r t - t e r m t o x i c i t y .
C o n c l u s i o n
H y d r o x y u r e a a m e l i o r a t e s symptoms in sickle cell disease.
On going studies are n e e d e d t o a s s e s s l o n g - t e r m e f f e c t s .

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/14685
Date20 May 2014
CreatorsMackinnon, Diane
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf

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