Novel hydration and nutritional strategies for sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait affect over 300 million people worldwide. Vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) are the most common reason that these patients seek medical care.

Recently, a newly identified "trigger" (involving glucose and electrolytes) for a mechanism of abnormal actin polymerization may offer further understanding with regard to the sequence of events that cascade to complications such as VOCs in those with sickle cell disease (SCD) and as well as those with sickle cell trait.

A literature review to identify the current standard of care guidelines for hydration and nutritional strategies during VOCs in patients with SCD and sickle cell trait was conducted in PubMed, OVID, and Google Scholar.

This review suggested that current rationales for hydration and nutritional strategies for these patients during periods of crisis are generally based on consensus and have remained largely undefined to date.

This new trigger, along with this literature review, suggests investigations related to serum glucose and cation (electrolyte) levels may help define novel strategies for the development of protocols/standard of care with regard to intravenous and oral hydration/nutritional guidelines in these patients during both clinical and perioperative management periods.