title: Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Disease: Our Experience in Western India.
abstract: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is common in tribal belt of Gujarat, but not addressed effectively as it should be with effective use of Hydroxyurea, supportive care and counseling. In our single centre study of 70 patients of SCD who were only on Folic acid and Blood transfusion support, were analyzed and followed up for 1 year in terms of their clinical symptoms, Blood transfusion requirement, laboratory parameters before and after Hydroxyurea therapy. We found statistically significant improvement in clinical symptoms and positive changes in laboratory parameters studied. This validates the well established role of Hydroxyurea in SCD as seen in the various international trials. Hence it is imperative that the well documented benefits of Hydroxyurea in various International studies should be translated into clinical practice. SCD should be treated like a chronic disorder needing preventive therapy in form of Hydroxyurea and counseling with regular follow up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, GMERS Medical college Gotri, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.affiliation: Hemocare Centre, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Bhatwadekar
authors.affiliation: Junior Resident GMERS Gotri, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Parth
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.affiliation: Junior Resident GMERS Gotri, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Tarang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bhavsar
authors.affiliation: Junior Resident GMERS Gotri, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Ankit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Hemocare Centre, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Amey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koranne
authors.affiliation: Hemocare Centre, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Arpan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.affiliation: Hemocare Centre, Vadodara, India.
authors.forename: Shweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khadse
keywords: Hydroxyurea; Pain crisis; Sickle cell disesase