Heat exertion precipitating shock and death in a case of previously undiagnosed sickle-cell disease

Jagadish Rao Padubidri1, Amanda Christina Pinto2, Jyoti R Kini2

  • 1Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.

The Medico-Legal Journal
|September 22, 2022
PubMed

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive genetic condition characterized by the presence of a mutated form of haemoglobin (HbS). HbS polymerises into long needle-like fibres under low oxygen conditions, leading to the erythrocytes forming sickle shaped red blood cells. With repeated sickling, the red blood cells become irreversibly sickled and trapped within the circulation, and this leads to vaso-occlusive crisis. The patient, a 25-year-old female, previously undiagnosed with SCD, presented with high grade fever, splenomegaly and succumbed due to heat exertion precipitating sickling crisis, multiorgan failure and shock.

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