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Impact of long‐term erythrocytapheresis on growth and peak height velocity of children with sickle cell disease
Author(s) -
Bavle Abhishek,
Raj Ashok,
Kong Maiying,
Bertolone Salvatore
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.25153
Subject(s) - medicine , pediatrics , body mass index , cohort , blood cancer , growth velocity , cancer
Background Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) lag in weight and height and have a delayed growth spurt compared to normal children. We studied the effect of long‐term erythrocytapheresis (LTE) on the growth of children with SCD and the age at which they attained peak height velocity. Procedure A retrospective chart review was performed recording weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) measurements of 36 patients with SCD who received LTE every 3–5 weeks for an average duration of 5 years. The z ‐scores for weight, height, and BMI of these patients were compared with that of patients with SCD from the Cooperative Study of Sickle Cell Disease (CSSCD) and a sub‐set of 64 controls matched for age, sex, and initial growth parameter z ‐scores at the start of LTE. Results The z ‐scores for all parameters improved significantly for our patients on LTE compared to match controls from CSSCD and the entire pediatric CSSCD cohort ( P ‐value: <0.01). Peak height velocity was achieved 2 months earlier for females ( P ‐value: 0.94) and 11 months earlier for males ( P ‐value: 0.02), who started LTE before 14 years of age, compared to matched CSSCD controls. The study subjects who had not been on regular simple transfusions prior to starting LTE had a mean serum ferritin of 681 ng/ml after LTE for an average duration of 63 months. Conclusion LTE improves the growth of children with SCD without the risk of iron overload. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2014;61:2024–2030. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.