In America, there are more then 70,000 people suffering from sickle cell anemia, which is an inherited disease that can be monitored but cannot be cured. Sickle cell anemia treatment is associated with the prevention of additional problems and reduction of the pain.
Semicircular blade on the farming tool is called sickle, and the name of the disease is associated with the red blood cells produced by the body in the shape of a sickle. Circular shape is a normal shape of red blood cells, which also have centered depressions that provide easier traveling of the red blood cells. Oxygen is carried by the hemoglobin protein, which is also responsible for the red color of the blood cells. The shape of the sickle is not normal and it is caused by improper hemoglobin protein, which also produces sticky and stiff red blood cells, which can cluster together and cause blood flow blockage.
Symptoms
This disease is developed at birth since it is inherited disease, but it takes 4 months for symptoms to appear. The disease’s most common symptom is anemia, which causes fatigue and pale face. Anemia, or red blood cell shortage, can cause pain that comes periodically and it ranges from mild to severe. This pain can stay for weeks, but it can also go away after several hours. Sickle cell anemia among infants causes swelling of the feet and hands, which are the most common symptoms, but it can also cause vision problems, delayed growth, frequent infections and jaundice.
Life Expectancy and the treatment
When we talk about the life expectancy, this is a serious health problem, which can make life shorter, but it can be improved with the help from the treatment. Patients who live in more developed areas will have higher chances of having a longer life due to the treatment, and this is why patients in more developed countries live longer. In America, life expectancy in cases of women with sickle cell anemia is 48, while men are expected to live until he turns 42 years.
Bone marrow transplantation is the only treatment option for the sickle cell anemia, but this is a difficult and risk method. However, it will help in avoiding complications, reducing the effects of the symptoms and decreasing the pain. Treatment will also include supplemental oxygen, blood transfusions and medications, along with the bone marrow transplantation. During the treatment, the doctor will have to visit the patient on regular basis and check the count of the red blood cells. We have said that the advancement of medicine is great factor in the life expectancy when associated with sickle cell anemia. This is why life expectancy is today around 50 years of age, while in the past, people who had this disease lived approximately from 20 to 40 years.
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