At MEDIC Regional Blood Center, we collect blood for the local hospitals of East Tennessee. Often, there are patients at these hospitals who have special transfusion needs or have a need for “rare blood.” One such group are patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).
What is Sickle Cell Disease? It’s a genetic blood disorder that affects the body’s red blood cells (RBCs). In individuals with SCD, their red blood cells are misshapen and can become rigid and sticky, leading to complications, including pain crises, anemia, and organ damage.
How does a blood center help support people affected by SCD? Many patients with SCD and their families advocate for increased awareness of the condition and the need for blood donations from compatible donors. Individuals with SCD often require blood transfusions as part of their treatment. These transfusions help to replace damaged or sickle-shaped red blood cells with healthy ones. The blood used for transfusion therapy typically comes from donors who do not have SCD or other blood disorders.
It’s important for those who are eligible to donate blood to do so to help maintain an adequate supply of blood for patients with SCD and other medical conditions that require transfusions. There are ethnic differences between groups of blood donors, and these can create difficulties in finding blood that is a good match for SCD patients who receive frequent transfusions. Often, most of the blood in the blood bank is from donors of a different ethnicity than SCD patients. The more different ethnicities we can get to donate, the more likely we can find a good match for these patients.
What do prospective blood donors who may have Sickle Cell Trait need to know about blood donation? There are several important considerations. People with SCD are generally not eligible to donate blood. This is because the blood they donate may not be suitable for transfusion due to the abnormal shape and characteristics of their red blood cells. Blood from individuals with SCD may not carry oxygen efficiently and could cause complications in recipients. In another case, some individuals carry the sickle cell trait, which means they have one normal hemoglobin gene (HbA) and one mutated gene (HbS) for sickle hemoglobin. These individuals usually do not have the symptoms of SCD but can pass the trait on to their children.