Low Sickle Cell Disease Mortality In Belgium and Benefit From Hydroxyurea Therapy

In Western countries, mortality among patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) has decreased in the last decades by means of neonatal screening (NS), infectious prophylaxis and care improvements. The major causes of death in children include acute chest syndrome, sepsis, splenic sequestration, stroke, aplastic crisis while in adults end-stage organ failure contributes also to premature death. Hydroxyurea (HU) and stem cell transplantation (SCT) are used in Belgium for more than 20 years but their possible influences on survival have not been yet analyzed. The Belgian SCD Registry was created in... Mehr ...