Treatment new to Nebraska makes hospital visits less painful for sickle cell patients

[Omaha Steve]

TYLER MEYER/THE WORLD-HERALD
Martin Mwita, 11, receives chronic red blood cell exchange therapy to treat sickle cell disease at the Nebraska Medical Center on Tuesday. Martin was diagnosed with the disease as a baby and has had three strokes. He receives the therapy — new to Nebraska — once a month to replace his affected cells with donor cells. Before starting the treatment in January, Martin had to come to the hospital twice month to receive a traditional blood transfusion treatment via IV, which was less effective and more painful.


http://www.livewellnebraska.com/health/treatment-new-to-nebraska-makes-hospital-visits-less-painful-for/article_9e593534-e2ca-5278-89cd-315e7b482e12.html

Posted: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 12:00 am | Updated: 7:00 am, Wed May 25, 2016.
By Maggie O’Brien / World-Herald staff writer
The American Red Cross is seeking blood donations from black donors to help patients with sickle cell disease. To donate, visit redcross.org.

A treatment new to Nebraska is making blood transfusions safer and less painful for patients with sickle cell disease.

To manage the incurable blood cell disease — which can lead to stroke and early death — people could spend days at the hospital being poked with needles as medical staff searched for a vein healthy enough to support an IV.

But the less-invasive chronic red blood cell exchange therapy replaces abnormal red blood cells with healthy ones in less than half the time. Because of the way it’s administered, it’s also not painful and reduces complications.

The treatment is now available at the Nebraska Medical Center. It’s giving new hope to sickle cell patients for a longer, better life, said Dr. Sara Shunkwiler, director of the hospital’s blood bank and tissue services and a researcher at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

FULL story at link.