Potential Role of Unani Medicine in the Symptomatic Management of Sickle Cell Disease: A Mechanism-Based Narrative Review

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hemoglobinopathy characterised by chronic haemolytic anaemia, vaso-occlusive crisis, inflammation, oxidative stress and progressive multi-organ damage. Conventional therapies like hydroxyurea and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation have improved, but disease-related morbidity remains significant, particularly in resource-limited settings. Traditional medical systems may offer supportive approaches for symptom management and quality of life. Although SCD is not directly mentioned in classical Unani literature, many of its cardinal clinical features such as anaemia, fatigue, hepatosplenomegaly, pain, fever and nutritional deficiency have conceptual counterparts in unani descriptions of other diseases. This mechanism-based narrative review examines the hypothetical role of Unani medicine in the symptomatic management of SCD by incorporating traditional concepts with the modern biomedical knowledge. Special attention is paid to medicinal plants with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, haematinic, analgesic and immunomodulatory activities. The review also discusses present gaps in knowledge and future research priorities for the evaluation of Unani interventions as adjunctive therapies in SCD management. No direct clinical evidence for Unani interventions in SCD currently exists; the Unani correlates proposed here are conceptual, and the supporting pharmacological data come largely from in vitro and non-SCD animal studies.