View clinical trials related to Sickle Cell Disease.
Filter by:This study will examine the use of hydroxyurea and erythropoietin for treating sickle cell disease in patients who also have kidney disease or pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in the lungs). Hydroxyurea increases production of fetal hemoglobin in the red blood cells of patients with sickle cell disease, reducing the amount of sickle cells that cause pain and other complications requiring hospitalizations. However, hydroxyurea treatment has limitations: patients with sickle cell disease who have developed kidney disease may not be able to get the full benefit of the medicine, and hydroxyurea alone may not be able to treat life-threatening complications such as pulmonary hypertension or stroke. This study will determine which of two dosing schedules of hydroxyurea and erythropoietin is more effective for treating patients with sickle cell disease who also have kidney disease or pulmonary hypertension, and will examine whether the two drugs can lower blood pressure in the lungs. Patients 18 years of age and older with sickle cell anemia and kidney disease or pulmonary hypertension, or both, may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, blood tests, a 6-minute walk test (test to see how far the subject can walk in 6 minutes), and echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart to measure blood pressure in the lungs). Participants undergo the following tests and procedures: Stabilization Phase: Patients take 2 hydroxyurea tablets a day until their fetal hemoglobin levels stabilize, usually over 2 to 4 months. They have blood tests every 2 weeks to monitor hemoglobin and fetal hemoglobin levels. At some time during this period, they undergo a test to measure kidney function, in which they are injected with an iodine-containing dye and wear a small pump for 1 day that injects a small amount of dye under the skin over 24 hours. They come to the clinic for 2 or 3 blood tests collected over 4 hours. Sequence I (Standard): When the fetal hemoglobin levels have been stable for 2 months, patients have a repeat echocardiogram and 6-minute walk test. Erythropoietin is then added to the hydroxyurea regimen. It is given 3 days a week, as an injection under the skin, along with iron supplements. Patients have blood tests and blood pressure measurements every week or every other week. Patients with pulmonary hypertension have another echocardiogram and 6-minute walk test once the hemoglobin level is stable. Sequence II (Cycled): When hemoglobin levels have stabilized with hydroxyurea once a day and erythropoietin 3 times a week, the hydroxyurea is adjusted so that the amount taken in 7 days is "cycled" over 4 days, and the erythropoietin is cycled over 3 days, with the dose increased twice, every 3 to 4 weeks. Blood pressure and hemoglobin are monitored once or twice a month. Patients with pulmonary hypertension have another echocardiogram and 6-minute walk test once the hemoglobin level is stable. Patients who develop complications while taking the drugs have their treatment regimens adjusted as needed.
The painful episode is the most common problem experienced by children with sickle cell disease. Although various treatments are available during painful episodes, the medication most commonly given for pain is a pain medication such as morphine. Fluids are also used. Even with these treatments, many children still have severe pain that is difficult to control. In addition to pain medications, there are other medications that may be useful. Methylprednisolone (solumedrol) and prednisone are a group of medications called steroids that may be helpful for painful episodes. These medications are known to lower the amount of inflammation (this means swelling, tenderness, and soreness) in the body. Because this medication may help with your pain, you are being asked to be a part of this study. These types of medications are used in other illnesses such as asthma, especially during times when the illness has gotten worse. The main purpose of this study is to see if the methylprednisolone and prednisone will lower the amount of pain and the length of hospital stay. In addition to the pain medication you will normally receive, you will be assigned to one of 2 groups: 1) the experimental group with the active form of the medicine, or 2) a comparison group without the active form of the medicine. In either group, you will still receive all of the treatments you would normally receive for a painful episode, including pain medicines and fluids. You and your doctors will not know what group you will be assigned. If you decide to be a part of the study the following will happen: For the first 5 days, you will be asked to: 1) describe your current pain (0=no pain to 10=a lot of pain), worst pain (0=no pain to 10=a lot of pain), least pain (0=no pain to 10=a lot of pain), and the amount of pain relief (0=no relief to 10=complete relief); 2) describe any signs or symptoms you feel, including filling out a pain scale form each day; 3) and take the medicines for 5 days, either at home or when in the hospital. Thirty days after the study, a study researcher will call and will ask questions about your pain, any painful episodes, and any medications you had. If you are discharged home sooner than 5 days after the start of the study, research staff will call you to ask you these questions, remind you to fill out your pain forms, and remind you to take your medicine. If you are discharged home, you will be given pain scales to fill out each day at home.
We hope to gain valuable information about the safety, success of engraftment, and rates of complications using alternate donor transplantation for children with severe SCD. Crucial information will be also collected about late effects from alternate donor BMT sickle cell, providing valuable information to clinicians and families making decisions among interventions for children with severe sickle cell disease. If successful, alternate donor transplantation in this setting could pave the way to offering curative treatment to many more patients with severe SCD.
The purpose of this pilot study is to provide a preliminary assessment of the feasibility and efficacy of intravenous ketamine in controlling pain in patients with sickle cell disease (who are admitted to the hospital with severe, acute pain crisis, and who have been resistant to intravenous narcotics).
This is an open-label, non-randomized, multi-center trial designed to provide expanded access of deferasirox to patients with congenital disorders of red blood cells and chronic iron overload from blood transfusions who cannot adequately be treated with locally approved iron chelators.
In this study, patient blood samples from NMA transplants will be provided by Pittsburgh, and samples from myeloablative transplants will be provided by Atlanta (comparative controls). Samples would be obtained pre- and post-BMT from the recipient at a total of 7 timepoints, and from the donor at one timepoint.
We are studying if sickle cell disease blood platelets are larger than normal and how they may cause obstruction of blood vessels. We are also trying to study the reasons why large platelets are found in patients with sickle cell disease.
This protocol studied the effect of administration of a myeloablative pretransplant preparative regimen followed by an infusion of donor stem cells in children with severe sickle cell disease. The donor graft consisted of bone marrow or cord blood derived from a genetically matched sibling. The primary aim of the study was to evaluate how well the donated cells migrated to the bone marrow and begin producing healthy red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets (engrafted), how well the recipients immune system recovered, and assess any regimen related toxicities including a potentially life-threatening transplant related complication called graft-versus-host-disease or GVHD.
Neurologic complications secondary to cerebrovascular damage are prevalent in children with sickle cell disease. These patients experience both clinically overt cerebrovascular accidents and "silent infarctions" demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). They are also at risk for neurocognitive abnormalities.We hypothesize that daily, low-dose aspirin therapy will safely diminish the incidence and progression of cognitive deficits as well as the predisposition to overt and silent stroke in children with homozygous sickle cell disease (Hgb SS) or hemoglobin S Beta Zero Thalassemia (Hgb SB-0 Thal). In order to optimize the design of a future trial to test this hypothesis, we propose a pilot study to test the safety and tolerability of aspirin in young children with sickle cell disease.
This study tests the clinical outcomes of one of two preparative regimens (determined by available donor source) in patients with non-malignant hemoglobinopathies. The researchers hypothesize that these regimens will have a positive effect on post transplant engraftment and the incidence of graft-versus-host-disease. Regimen A2 has replaced Regimen A in this study. Two patients were treated on Regimen A but did not have evidence of initial engraftment thus triggering the stopping rule for that arm of this study.