How Is Sickle Cell Anemia Diagnosed?

Sickle cell disease is a group of bleeding disorders in which the patient has abnormal hemoglobin, an essential component in red blood cells. Patients with this condition do not have normal hemoglobin but have a hemoglobin of sickle-shaped which resembles the letter S.

Sickle cell disease is a disease that is most prominent in tropical regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the level of cases that occur by 75 percent. About 150,000 newborn babies in Nigeria was diagnosed with the disease each year.

Similar conditions also occur in the Middle East and India. Migration patterns of this disease from the area has increased significantly in European countries.

Meanwhile, in the United States, this condition occurs in about 1 of every 5,000 people. Around the world, about 300,000 children were born with this condition each year.

Sickle cell disease has caused more than 175,000 deaths each year. However, about 50% of patients with this condition can live for more than 50 years.

How Is Sickle Cell Anemia Diagnosed?

The incidence of sickle cell anemia is not a condition that often occurs in the United State. It takes a lot of checks to make sure diagnosis and know the complications that occur.

At an early stage, the doctor will do a full interview and a thorough physical examination on the sufferer. Then proceed with the examination of laboratory examination in the form of hemoglobin, leukocytes, platelets, kidney function (creatinine, rum, and urine examination), liver function (SGOT, SGPT, and bilirubin), electrolytes, and oxygen saturation in the blood.

If indeed the suspected presence of the disease sickle-cell Moon from a variety of such examination, the next step is to verify it by performing an examination of electrophoresis.

The examination is done by taking the blood of sufferers and then melted into the electrophoresis in order to see the ' Ribbon ' anything that will appear. If it brings a high HbS level, then it is certain that right there is a sickle cell anemia.

To view the presence of complications of sickle cell anemia, doctors sometimes also ask various Radiology examination is performed, such as:

Chest x-rays to see the condition of the lung, especially when it is suspected that the sufferers experience acute chest syndrome is characterized by the presence of chest pain and tightness.
CT-scans to see any abnormalities of the bones caused by the death of many cells of bones because bone marrow undergo ' fatigue '
Doppler ultrasound to detect the early risk of stroke
Echocardiography to notice any swelling of the heart and hypertension on pulmonary blood vessels

Anemia is typically diagnosed on a complete blood count. Moreover, in the case of sickle cell anemia a red blood cells count and the hemoglobin level, size of the red blood cells by flow cytometry, which is an important tool in the diagnosis of anemia.

Do you have a family history of sickle cell anemia (it's genetic)?

It's typically diagnosed through blood tests - microscopy for red blood cell morphology.
Early diagnosis does help because you will be educated about your illness, and they will teach you how to watch out for sickle cell crisis episodes, which can be life-threatening.

By blood transfusion, or by a medicine called corticosteroids that suppress the immune system. Erythropoietin is another medicine used to make bone marrow to produce blood.