Long-Term Anticoagulation in Sickle-Cell Disease

A CLINICAL study of 12 patients with SS hemoglobin who were treated with sustained orally administered anticoagulants at Charity Hospital of Louisiana at New Orleans was carried out in an attempt to alter the clinical course of the disease by decreasing the fibrin formation. Even though mechanical entanglement of the abnormal erythrocytes would still occur, it was believed that the decreased fibrin formation would lessen the chances of complete cessation of the blood flow.Since the first report of sickle-cell disease in 1910 plugging of small blood vessels in various organs by the abnormally shaped rigid cells has been recognized. . . .