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Updated: Sep 14, 2026

Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
Published on: March 14, 2017
Normal vitamin E status in sickle hemoglobinopathies in Colorado
E H Broxson1, R J Sokol, J H Githens
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
Abstract:
Because previous studies of serum or plasma vitamin E (E) levels reported a high prevalence of E deficiency in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA), we studied the E status in 101 patients with SCA in Colorado using both levels of serum E and ratios of serum E to total lipid (E:L). Compared with age-, sex-, and race-matched controls, 1 of 70 patients with homozygous SCA (SS), 1 of 7 with sickle beta+-thalassemia, and 0 of 24 with hemoglobin SC disease had E deficiency according to E:L and all were E-sufficient based on serum E levels. Serum cholesterol levels, lower in SS patients than in control subjects, correlated more strongly with serum E levels than did total serum lipid levels in control subjects and SS patients; hence, the ratio of serum E to cholesterol may be a useful indicator of E status in these patients. We conclude that vitamin E deficiency rarely occurs in SCA patients in Colorado.
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