Sickle Cell Disease Case Study

Choice “E is the best answer. Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder resulting from the presence of a mutated form of hemoglobin, hemoglobin S (HbS). Given that this patient has sickle cell disease, he must have inherited two abnormal copies of the hemoglobin gene, one from each parent. This patient is exhibiting a vaso-occlusive crisis, which occurs when the end arteriole circulation is obstructed by sickled RBCs, causing ischemic injury to the organ supplied and results in a pain crisis. It is recommended that clinicians obtain "routine CBC and reticulocyte counts in all sickle cell patients with an acute illness, including those presenting with apparently uncomplicated painful crisis”[1]. The reticulocyte count