A multiple drug approach to preventing sickle cell crisis

Sickle cell disease is characterized by recurrent episodes of "sickle crisis," also known as vaso-occlusive crisis, in which a patient's red blood cells change shape, clump together and block the flow of blood in small vessels resulting in pain and organ damage. In an editorial in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researcher stresses the need for a multi-pronged approach to treating sickle-cell disease in order to prevent these harmful episodes.