Sickle Cell Disease and Cardiovascular Damage: Understanding the connection and straregies for prevention

Introduction: Cardiovascular alterations contribute to the morbidity of adult patients with sickle cell disease, as a clinical expression of chronic organ damage. Sickle cell disease is a generic term assigned to a group of genetic disorders characterizedby a predominance of hemoglobin S(HBS) and clinically expressed in homozygous or doublé heterozygous patients. Development: Alterations in cardiac morphology and function were identified from the earliest cases of sickle cell disease. The prevalence of cardiac involvement in adult patients with sickle cell disease has been estimated to be as high as 82%. Conclusions: Patients with sickle cell disease exhibit a high prevalence of cardiovascular alterations, including the need for regular cardiovascular monitoring in this population.