Improvement of maternal and fetal outcomes in women with sickle cell disease treated with early prophylactic erythrocytapheresis.

BACKGROUND: The desire for pregnancy in sickle cell disease (SCD) women has become a true challenge for hematologists, requiring a multidisciplinary approach. Erythrocytapheresis (ECP) is an important therapeutic tool in SCD, but only limited data on starting time and the effects of ECP during pregnancy are available. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This is a double-center retrospective cross-sectional study on a total of 46 single pregnancies in SCD women from January 2008 to June 2017. ECP was started at 10.7 ± 5.2 weeks of gestation, and prophylactic enoxaparin (4,000 U daily) was introduced due to the reported high prevalence of thromboembolic events in pregnant SCD women. RESULTS: The alloimmunization ratio was 2.1 per 1,000 and the alloimmunization rate was 5.6%. In early ECP-treated SCD women, no severe vaso-occlusive crisis, sepsis or severe infection, or preeclampsia or eclampsia were observed. We found normal umbilical arterial impedance during pregnancy, suggesting an optimal uteroplacental function in early ECP-treated SCD women. This was also supported by the improvement in newborn birthweights compared to previous studies. In our cohort, three SCD women were started later on ECP (20-25 weeks), and gestation ended with late fetal loss. Placenta pathology documented SCD-related damage and erythroblasts in placental vessels, indicating fetal hypoxia. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our data generate a rationale to support a larger clinical trial of early ECP program in SCD pregnancy.

Fentanyl Buccal Tablet: A New Breakthrough Pain Medication in Early Management of Severe Vaso-Occlusive Crisis in Sickle Cell Disease.

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a worldwide distributed hereditary red cell disorder. The principal clinical manifestations of SCD are the chronic hemolytic anemia and the acute vaso-occlusive crisis (VOCs), which are mainly characterized by ischemic/reperfusion tissue injury. Pain is the main symptom of VOCs, and its management is still a challenge for hematologists, requiring a multidisciplinary approach. METHODS: We carried out a crossover study on adult SCD patients, who received two different types of multimodal analgesia during two separate severe VOCs with time interval between VOCs of at least 6 months. The first VOC episode was treated with ketorolac (0.86 mg/kg/day) and tramadol (7.2 mg/kg/day) (TK treatment). In the second VOC episode, fentanyl buccal tablet (FBT; 100 µg) was introduced in a single dose after three hours from the beginning of TK analgesia (TKF treatment). We focused on the first 24 hours of acute pain management. The primary efficacy measure was the time-weighted-sum of pain intensity differences (SPID24). The secondary efficacy measures included the pain intensity difference (PID), the total pain relief (TOTPAR), and the time-wighted sum of anxiety (SAID24). RESULTS: SPID24 was significantly higher in TKF than in TK treatment. All the secondary measures were significantly ameliorated in TKF compared to TK treatment, without major opioid side effects. Patients satisfaction was higher with TKF treatment than with TK one. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that VOCs might require breakthrough pain drug strategy as vaso-occlusive phenomena and enhanced vasoconstriction promoting acute ischemic pain component exacerbate the continuous pain of VOCs. FBT might be a powerful and feasible tool in early management of acute pain during VOCs in emergency departments.

Case for diagnosis. Localized scleroderma or morphea.

Localized scleroderma or morphea is a chronic disease of the connective tissue. Its etiology may be autoimmune and the condition results from a disturbance in collagen synthesis and deposition, clinically represented by sclerotic skin lesions. Some plaques may be yellowish, which can be misleading at diagnosis. This article reports the case of an adolescent girl who concomitantly presented erythematous lesions and yellowish lesions, both of which constitute clinical manifestations of the disease.

Caso para diagnóstico / Case for diagnosis

A esclerodermia localizada (EL) ou morfeia é uma doença crônica do tecido conjuntivo, de provável etiologia autoimune, que tem como base alterações na síntese e deposição do colágeno, representadas clinicamente por lesões cutâneas escleróticas. Algumas placas podem apresentar coloração amarelada ou xantocrômica, causando confusão diagnóstica. Este artigo relata o caso de uma adolescente, com concomitância de lesões eritematosas e xantocrômicas, ambas manifestações clínicas da doença.

Localized scleroderma or morphea is a chronic disease of the connective tissue. Its etiology may be autoimmune and the condition results from a disturbance in collagen synthesis and deposition, clinically represented by sclerotic skin lesions. Some plaques may be yellowish, which can be misleading at diagnosis. This article reports the case of an adolescent girl who concomitantly presented erythematous lesions and yellowish lesions, both of which constitute clinical manifestations of the disease.