Decreased Prostacyclin Levels in Sickle-Cell Disease

Abstract

Vaso-occlusive crisis is one of the most common manifestations of sickle-cell anemia (SCA) and, no doubt, the most uncomfortable to the patient. The frequency and severity of vaso-occlusive crisis varies greatly among different patients with SCA; those differences are probably related to several factors. Coagulation factors, fibrinogen, and platelet levels increased after the vaso-occlusive crisis, and they cannot explain the initiation of the crisis.1 The red blood cells' adherence to the small vessels endothelium is increased in SCA and directly related to the clinical severity of the disease, as studied by Hebbel et al.2 The sickle cell-red blood cells' (SC-RBC) adherence was also studied by Mohandas et al.,3 and Wautier et al.5 They suggested that both cell membrane changes and plasma factors contributed to the increased adherence of SC-RBC.