title: Impact of long-term erythrocytapheresis on growth and peak height velocity of children with sickle cell disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) lag in weight and height and have a delayed growth spurt compared to normal children. We studied the effect of long-term erythrocytapheresis (LTE) on the growth of children with SCD and the age at which they attained peak height velocity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review was performed recording weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) measurements of 36 patients with SCD who received LTE every 3-5 weeks for an average duration of 5 years. The z-scores for weight, height, and BMI of these patients were compared with that of patients with SCD from the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease (CSSCD) and a sub-set of 64 controls matched for age, sex, and initial growth parameter z-scores at the start of LTE.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The z-scores for all parameters improved significantly for our patients on LTE compared to match controls from CSSCD and the entire pediatric CSSCD cohort (P-value: <0.01). Peak height velocity was achieved 2 months earlier for females (P-value: 0.94) and 11 months earlier for males (P-value: 0.02), who started LTE before 14 years of age, compared to matched CSSCD controls. The study subjects who had not been on regular simple transfusions prior to starting LTE had a mean serum ferritin of 681 ng/ml after LTE for an average duration of 63 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LTE improves the growth of children with SCD without the risk of iron overload.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bavle
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.forename: Maiying
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bertolone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D016238:Cytapheresis; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins
keywords: Sickle cell disease; erythrocytapheresis; growth; peak height velocity