The Sickle Cell Diseases: Clinical Manifestations Including the Sickle Crisis

Abstract

Working definitions of "sickle cell disease, sickle-cell trait, and the sickle crisis are given. The pathogenesis of the crisis is explained and the complications of the disease are presented in a quantitative manner. The need to look at the patient as a whole and to assess the natural history of the disease against the background of an often prevalent social and environmental pathologic condition is stressed. A call for effective public health measures, including raising of living standards and providing comprehensive health care facilities for sickle cell disease patients is made. � 1974, American Medical Association. All rights reserved. � 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.