Cardiovascular findings in patients with Sickle Cell Disease

Abstract

SUMMARY Fifty homozygous sicklers and ten heterozygous sick cell patients selected from the sickle cell clinic cardiac clinic and inpatients on the medical wards of Mulago Hospital from the basis of this dissertation. It starts with a historical review and pathology of sickle cell disease. Cardiovascular alterations in Anaemia with emphasis on physiological and pathological considerations in sickle disease are then discussed. The findings among the patients studied are described dwelling mainly on presenting symptoms, cardiovascular findings notably cardiomegally, murmurs, abnormal heart sounds, electro-cardio graphic and X-ray abnormalities. A discussion of findings with reference to work on the same subject by other writers is presented. Some of the possibilities haemodynamic alterations in sickle cell disease are outlined and a need to for further elaborate studies in this condition is stressed.