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Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
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Care of patients with haemoglobin abnormalities: history and biology

Ahmed D Khattab1, Barry Rawlings, Ibtisam S Ali

  • 1Department of Nursing, Institute of Health and Community Studies, Bournemouth University.

British Journal of Nursing (Mark Allen Publishing)
|November 2, 2006
PubMed

Haemoglobinopathies refer to a range of genetically inherited disorders of red blood cell haemoglobin and include sickle cell disorders and thalassaemias. They occur most commonly in populations whose ancestors come from Africa, Asia, Mediterranean Islands, and the Middle and Far East. Haemoglobin (Hb) abnormalities (or haemoglobinopathies) are caused by (i) abnormalities of the protein structure; (ii) imbalanced globin chain production owing to reduced rate of synthesis of normal a or b globin chains; or (iii) a combination of the two. This article will focus on the biological basis of sickle cell disorders and will discuss the history and pathology of the conditions.

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