The Erythrocyte in Sickle Cell Anemia

In the rapidly expanding literature relating to sickle cell anemia, which now includes more than 140 articles, there are numerous descriptions of erythrocytes, the most important of which are in the articles by Emmel,1Sydenstricker, Mulherin and Houseal,2Huck,3Hahn and Gillespie,4Hein, McCalla and Thorne,5Graham and McCarty,6Sharp and Schleicher7and Vaubel.8In this paper we shall attempt to combine the observations of others with observations which we have made while studying forty-seven patients with active sickle cell anemia at the John Gaston Hospital in Memphis. MORPHOLOGY When whole blood from a patient with sickle cell anemia is sealed under a cover slip and examined immediately, it is noted that most of the cells are round or oval and that there is a variable number of irregularly shaped cells and elongated and narrow cells with round or pointed ends. As