Prophylactic red cell transfusions for sickle cell disease pregnancy: increased use of therapy could transform outcomes.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose of review

Pregnancy for people with sickle cell disease (SCD) is high risk with persistently high rates of severe maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. Transfusion therapy is the best-studied treatment for SCD in pregnancy; hydroxyurea is not usually used because of teratogenicity concerns. In high-resource settings, red cell transfusions are likely underutilized, while in low-resource settings, they may be altogether unavailable.

Recent findings

A randomized controlled trial and meta-analysis, two of the strongest forms of clinical research, show transfusion significantly reduces maternal and fetal death, painful crisis, thrombosis, and acute respiratory failure. Downstream benefits of treatment are less well measured and may include improving maternal anemia,

SUBMITTER: Alan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11427169 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature