4/30/15
English 4
More symptoms and diagnoses
People with sickle cell disease may develop severe pain in the chest, back, arms, legs, and abdomen. Pain can occur anywhere in the body. Sickle red blood cells in the lungs can cause severe illness with chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. Sickle cell disease can also cause permanent damage to the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, and bones due to the lack of oxygen being distributed throughout the body. The severity and symptoms depend from person to person, especially in the same family.Sickle-shaped red blood cells can be detected when a blood sample is examined under a microscope. But sickle cell disease is diagnosed by a blood test called hemoglobin electrophoresis, which measures the amount of the abnormal sickle hemoglobin they do this sometimes by stripping away the oxygen from the blood. The amount of sickle hemoglobin determines whether the person is a carrier (sickle cell trait) or has sickle cell disease. There are also screening tests that detect the formation of sickle red blood cells or clumps of abnormal sickle hemoglobin when oxygen is removed from the blood. These tests are less commonly used, because they cannot distinguish between sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease.
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