CLINICAL AND HEMATOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF HYDROXYUREA THERAPY IN MANAGEMENT OF SICKLE CELL ANEMIA

Dr. Rajesh Shukla, Dr. Mehul Gajera
2019 International Journal of Medical and Biomedical Studies  
The most predominant form of haemoglobinopathy worldwide is sickle cell disease. The greatest burden of the disease lies in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia5. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of HU therapy in sickle cell disease as measured by decrease in crises rate, hospital admissions, days of hospitalization and number of blood transfusions. Methods: the study was conducted on 79 children of 1-16 year age. Out of which in only 75 patients Hydroxyurea therapy was started as they were
more » ... to be eligible. 16% of the patients responded to 15 mg/kg/ day of HU, 50.66% responded to 20 mg/kg/ day, 29.33% to 25 mg/kg/ day and only 4% needed a dose escalation to 30 mg/kg/ day for the response. Results: Our study showed a significant reduction in the VOC rate from 243 episodes to 46 episodes (p value <0.001), the number of ACS reduced from 37 episodes to 5 episodes (p value <0.001), also there is a significant decline in the rates of hemolytic crises from 63 episodes to 10 episodes per year, Significant increase in the HbF levels from 15.87±5.50% to 21.77.±4.06% (p value <0.001). There was a definite and significant reduction in the number of hospitalization days from 7.76±4.76 to 3.79±2.29 days and in the number of admissions per year dropped significantly from 4.80 ± 1.41 to 1.42± 0.61 per year. Conclusion: Hydroxyurea reduced the frequency of painful crises and diminished the number of hospitalization, transfusion, and episodes of acute chest syndrome17. Keywords: Haemoglobin (Hb), Hydroxyurea (HU), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Pletelet Counts, Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), White Blood Cells (WBC).
doi:10.32553/ijmbs.v3i7.383 fatcat:axbqqhyatzatvlg4shed7xioiq