Introduction :
Sickle cell anemia a serious disorder of blood which is due to the defective hemoglobin production in our body. This disorder is very common in United States of America, about 35.5 millions of people are suffering from this serious disorder.So, lets talk about this serious blood disorder in detailed.Our points of discussion are follow.
Sickle cell Anemia :
What is sickle cell anemia? Lets start a brief discussion on this topic.
Sickle cell anemia is an autosomal recessive disorder in which their is abnormal hemoglobin in the body.This abnormal Hemoglobin makes the membrane of red blood cells fragile and red blood cells are more prone to rupture. This causes rupture of large amount of red blood cells (Hemolysis). Red blood cells are more rupture when they pass to the tight junction as in Spleen. This condition is called Sickle cell anemia.
Hemoglobin is blood protein which binds Oxygen and transport it to all tissues and organ of the body so that they perform their normal function. As in this case hemoglobin is abnormal so it can’t bind Oxygen and delivery of oxygen to tissues and organ retard.
What happened to red blood cells in Sickle cell Anemia?
The normal shape of hemoglobin is Disc shaped but in case of sickle cell anemia the shape changes and make red blood cells Sickle (Crescent shape). These red blood cell may also block small artries,thus proper delivery of blood to various body part is cutoff.
What is the cause of Sickle cell Anemia?
Sickle cell anemia is due to the mutation in the gene that is responsible for the formation of hemoglobin ( a protein responsible for the transport of Oxygen from lungs to all tissues and organs of the body. Hemoglobin contain Iron that binds Oxygen.
Genetics of Sickle cell anemia :
Sickle cell anemia is autosomal recessive disorder. Person only suffers from this disorder when defective genes come from both mother and father. The Hemoglobin is defective.
In some cases defective gene comes only from one person which may be either from mother or from father. In this case child may have Sickle cell trait and acts as carrier. The child having sickle cell trait may have
Normal hemoglobin
Abnormal hemoglobin
But he does not show the symptoms of Sickle cell anemia.
Diagnosis :
Following steps fall in the category of Diagnosis of Sickle cell anemia.
Blood test
This is the first and compulsory step in the diagnosis of Sickle cell anemia for checking of Hemoglobin S. A sample of blood is taken from
Vein of arm in case of adult
Fingers or toes from babies