Sickle Cell Disease

Why does it's painful in SCD
Pain is the hallmark of a SCD, arising as sickle cells impede blood flow.
Red cells are approximately 8 micro metre wide.Their size and shape enable them to squeeze through capillaries which normally only minimal anisocytosis(variation in size) and poikilocytosis(variation in shape) can passes.Anything abnormal, it will fail to negotiate tight capillaries.

Causes of painful fingers in SCD?
Dactylitis which means is inflammation of an entire digit (a finger or toe) .Often active finger will undergoes the swelling and it's painful.
It is a common early manifestation and the reason is same as the cause of the pain.

Reason of abdominal pain in SCD
The cause of abdominal pain often associated with splenic sequestration and is also common.
Splenic sequestration happens when a lot of sickled red blood cells become trapped in the spleen. The spleen can enlarge, get damaged, and not work as it should.
Severe form causes autosplenectomy (disease damages the spleen to such an extent that it becomes shrunken and non-functional) but in milder forms,it causes splenic sequestration.


People who remove their spleen should be vaccinated against pneumococcal ,meningococcal and haemophilus.This is because infection by encapsulated bacteria tend to happens due to splenic's decreased ability to clear circulating antigen.