Thalassemia is blood disorder inherited from families in which the body suffers from atypical and meager amount of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin (Hb or Hgb) is a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. Excessive destruction of red blood cells leads to anemia.
There are two main types of Thalassemia:
· Alpha Thalassemia- that occurs when a gene or genes related to alpha globin protein in the body is missing, mutated or anomalous in number.
· Beta Thalassemia- also known to be Cooley anemia occurs when a defect of a similar gene affects the production of beta globin protein.
Most affected countries from Alpha Thalassemia includes Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Central and Mediterranean countries whereas Beta Thalassemia has its reach over southern regions of Italy and Greece and also to the north of the continent of Africa.
There are many genres of Thalassemia and each type has further categorization. Mainly both Alpha and Beta Thalassemia include the following two forms:
· Thalassemia major hit a healthy body if one receives the gene from both the parents.
· Thalassemia minor takes place when one inherit the gene defect from only one parent, who are the carriers of the disease and do not have symptoms.
Signs and Symptoms of the disease include:
· Excessive level of iron.
· Increased risk of infection especially if the spleen has been removed.
· Bone deformities i.e., expansion or widening of bones being thin and brittle.
· Enlargement of the spleen which is basically caused of the spleen performing the task of red blood cells as there is the destruction of enormous red blood cells.
· Slow growth, heart problems, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, dark urine or irritability are also some symptoms associated with the disease.
There are though many ways to treat or even cure Thalassemia such as blood transfusion, Folic acid supplements, Iron Chelation Therapy and blood, and marrow cell treatment.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) or Sickle cell anemia somehow associated with Thalassemia is a serious disorder in which the body makes RBC into a sickle (old farm tool) or like a crescent moon to be apt. Therefore the sickle-shaped cells get stuck together easily and thus blocks small blood vessels and don’t allow the blood to travel and reach where it actually should, leading to pain and organ damage (pain crisis) often raising the risk for infection. People among Africans-Americans, Hispanics of Caribbean ancestry and throughout the world Sickle cell anemia affects the people among Arabian, Greek, Italian, Sardinian, Maltese, Turkish and Southern Asian ancestry.
Sickening period pain lasting from some hours to days, blood clots, swelling in body parts (mainly hands and feet), joint pain that resembles arthritis, serious and even life-threatening infections and anemia are some of the major symptoms associated with Sickle cell anemia.
The only way possible to cure sickle cell disease if the action taken at the right time is Bone Marrow Transplantation. The procedure involves transplanting blood stem cells, which then travel to the bone marrow and produce new blood cells and promote the growth of new marrow. Here at BMT Clinic Dr. Vikas Dua has taken an initiative to help people live and make every possible effort to lift the patient a better and happy life suffering from the disease.
The process of how the treatment for sickle cell anemia is done is as follows:
The treatment is basically responsible for replacement of cells in a patient’s body that make red blood cells, known to be hematopoietic stem cells resulting in termination of the making of sickle-shaped cells that cause the disease. Further, the doctor takes healthy stem cells from the bone marrow of a healthy donor and injects in patient’s body usually through IV tube in one the veins and the cells then go to the bone marrow and start creating healthy blood cells.
