Chronic Transfusion Therapy
Chronic transfusion therapy can stop a lot of sickle cell disease problems.
You get blood transfusion to put healthy red blood cells (from a donor) into your body.
It only works if you keep getting blood transfusions regularly for a long time.
- That is why the word chronic is used.
- It is not a cure.
- You have to go to an infusion center for a half or full day every 3 or 4 weeks.
- If you stop getting transfusions, the treatment stops working.
If it works:
- You will have less pain.
- You will not need to go to the hospital as often as before.
- You will have a smaller chance of having a stroke.
- You will have a smaller chance of having a "silent" stroke. This is when there is damage to the brain without any outward signs of a stroke. It is also called a silent cerebral infarct.
- You will have a smaller chance of acute chest syndrome. This is when your sickle cells block the blood flow to your lungs.
- You will have less new organ damage from sickle cell disease, but it will not fix any organ damage you already have.
There are risks:
- It does not work for everyone.
- It can cause new medical problems.
- It can cause iron overload in your body. Many people need to take Deferiprone or Deferoxamine to remove extra iron from their body.
- It is not common, but some problems (side effects) from transfusion can cause death if you are not treated quickly enough.
- You will have a smaller chance of acute chest syndrome. This is when your sickle cells block the blood flow to your lungs.
- You will have less new organ damage from sickle cell disease, but it will not fix any organ damage you already have.
Chronic transfusion therapy does not work for everyone.
Your doctor can talk to you about the chance of it working for you.
Blood transfusions give you healthy red blood cells from a donor.
- This is not a bone marrow transplant.
- Your stem cells also keep making some sickle cells, but you get so many healthy red blood cells from the donor that your sickle cells do not cause problems.
- The transfused red blood cells do not block your blood vessels like your sickled blood cells.
- The transfused red blood cells are not hard and sticky like your sickled blood cells.
Sickle cells are red blood cells in the wrong shape.
Healthy red blood cells are round and flexible. But when someone has sickle cell disease, their red blood cells bend in the shape of a sickle.
- Sickle cells are hard and sticky. They clump together and get stuck in blood vessels.
- Sickle cells do not last as long as healthy red blood cells.
You have different types of blood cells:
- Red blood cells carry oxygen to all the other cells in your body.
- White blood cells fight germs. They are also called immune system cells.
- Platelets help your blood clot (stop bleeding) when you have a cut.