A Hospital-based Prospective Study of Sickle Cell Disease in Children of Eastern India

To the editor-in-chief Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and keen interest in our article, “A Hospital-Based Prospective Study of Sickle Cell Disease in Children of Eastern India,” published in the Medical Journal of Dr. DY Patil Vidyapeeth (Vol. 16, Issue 5, September–October 2023).[1] We appreciate your detailed review and the constructive observations you have provided. We acknowledge your suggestion regarding the inclusion of hemoglobin HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) for screening hemoglobinopathies. Indeed, hemoglobin HPLC is a valuable tool for accurately estimating HbA2 and HbF levels and identifying the HbS peak. While our study utilized conventional hematological and biochemical tests, we agree that incorporating hemoglobin HPLC would have added depth to our findings. We will certainly consider this for future research to provide a more comprehensive analysis. Regarding the discussion on the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) concentration in sickle beta thalassemia (SBT) compared to sickle cell anemia (SCA), we acknowledge the omission of the respective table. This was an oversight, and we appreciate you for bringing it to our attention. The table illustrating this comparison is available, and we are willing to provide it upon request. We will ensure that such important data are included in the published manuscript in the future to enhance the clarity and robustness of our findings. We also note your concern about the lack of discussion on the history of blood transfusions among the patients. This is indeed a critical aspect that influences the clinical management and prognosis of SCD patients. We had collected data on blood transfusion histories, and although it was not extensively discussed in the published article, we will make sure to address this in subsequent publications and analyses. Lastly, we regret the typographical oversight regarding the abbreviations SSA (sickle cell anemia) and SSD (sickle cell disease) without providing their full forms. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused and will ensure that all abbreviations are clearly defined in future manuscripts. We sincerely appreciate your positive feedback on our study and your valuable suggestions. Your insights are vital for improving the quality and comprehensiveness of our research. We look forward to incorporating these suggestions in our future work and continuing to contribute to the understanding and management of sickle cell disease in Eastern India. Thank you once again for your constructive feedback. Data availability statement Data will be available with reasonable request. Author contribution Dr Nirmal Kumar mohakud, conceptualized and written the manuscript, will remain gurantor of it. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.