AM25-TU-19-L - What's New in Transfusion Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease

Proposed Session Description: This session will describe recently published studies that have advanced transfusion therapy in sickle cell disease, both in the setting of simple transfusion and red cell exchange. In the setting of simple transfusion, data shows reduced transfusion use needed when hydroxyurea is added to chronic transfusion. In the setting of red cell exchange, there is new data on the mechanism by which red cell exchange improves clinical severity, the value of increasing the end target hematocrit to reduce endogenous erythropoiesis, optimizing single needle red cell exchange, and the safety and benefits of isovolemic hemodillution. There is also new data on the safety and efficacy of using genotype-matched blood in the presence of red cell alloantibodies, clinical conditions in which providing red cells with extended matching could be considered, and the value of ABO-matched blood. Finally, the data on the safety and benefit of therapeutic plasma exchange for SCD will be summarized.