Sickle cell disease guidelines release set for early 2019

San Diego – State-of-the-art guidelines for treating sickle cell disease are actively being developed and could be released as early as the spring of 2019, according to Robert Liem, MD, chair of the American Society of Hematology coordination panel for the initiative.

The new clinical practice recommendations will expand on 2014 guidelines published by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in a way that will help both hematologists and nonhematologists who take care of patients with sickle cell disease, Dr. Liem said in a video interview at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Five different guidelines are under development to cover different aspects of acute and chronic complications of sickle cell disease, including pain, cardiopulmonary and kidney disease, cerebrovascular disease, transfusion support, and stem cell transplantation.

Watch the video to learn more about the guideline effort from the perspective of Dr. Liem, who is also the director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.