03/09/2018

The American Society of Hematology Develops Resources to Help Improve Care for Sickle Cell Disease Patients

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited red blood cell disorder in the United States. Although the molecular basis of SCD was established several decades ago, it has been challenging to translate this knowledge into the development of novel targeted therapies. As recently as the 1960s, this disease was described as a disorder of childhood, because patients rarely survived their teenage years. Today most SCD patients can expect to live into adulthood, but the cost of care and the burden of pain, end-organ injury, and premature death remain high.

New approaches in managing this disease have improved diagnosis and supportive care over the last few decades, but many patients still have severe complications to overcome. The future of care for SCD patients will be dependent on advanced and highly targeted approaches to research, discovery, and implementation of proven and new interventions.

To ensure that patients with SCD receive state of the art care, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) developed the following resources

• Sickle Cell Pocket Guides
• Sickle Cell Disease Infographic
• SCD-related webinars
• Coding for Sickle Cell Disease
• Optimization of Hydroxyurea for the Management of SCD