Managing the parturient with sickle cell crisis.
Sickle cell crisis is a serious obstetric emergency. Maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality secondary to sickle cell disease and crisis can be reduced significantly with expert perinatal teams, the benefits of comprehensive tertiary health care, and careful, consistent attention to medical detail. The combined life span for mother and fetus today has improved considerably over what it was just a few years ago, primarily because of better medical, obstetric, and neonatal care. Although the disease has not been cured, and at present we have no effective and safe pharmacologic treatment for sickle crisis, our experience suggests that adherence to the outlined management principles offers increasing hope to the sickling patient that her vasoocclusive episodes can be managed effectively for a healthier pregnancy outcome. The future is bright for the development of pharmacologic agents to prevent sickle cell vasoocclusive crisis altogether.
D000698:Analgesia; D000700:Analgesics; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D004630:Emergencies; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D005440:Fluid Therapy; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000628:therapy*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011250:Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*
D000700:Analgesics; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents