Reversibility of splenic function by transfusion in two young adults with sickle cell anemia

A level of circulating "pitted" or vesiculated red blood cells higher than 3.5% was recently reported in studies in the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease to correlate with splenic dysfunction as shown by spleen scans. Reversal of splenic dysfunction by transfusion in children with sickle cell anemia (SS disease) is known to occur in the young child. We report two older patients with homozygous sickle cell disease, aged 17 and 21 years, whose spleen function, as measured by pit count, was restored to normal range after transfusion.