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Early diagnosis of
sickle cell anemia is very important so that
children who have the condition can get
proper treatment.
In the United States,
44 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands now test
all newborns for sickle cell anemia. In the
other six States, you can request a sickle
cell test.
The test uses blood
from the same blood samples used for other
routine newborn screening tests. It can show
whether the newborn infant has sickle cell
anemia or sickle cell trait. If the first
test shows some sickle hemoglobin, a second
blood test is done to confirm the diagnosis.
The second blood test
looks at how hemoglobin moves in an electric
field, a process called electrophoresis (ee-LEK-tro-for-EE-sis).
Sickle hemoglobin moves differently than
normal hemoglobin. Electrophoresis is
usually used to diagnose older children and
adults.
It’s also possible to
identify sickle cell anemia before birth.
This is done using a sample of amniotic
fluid or tissue taken from the placenta.
(Amniotic fluid is the fluid in the sac
surrounding a growing embryo. The placenta
is the organ that attaches the umbilical
cord to the mother’s womb.) This test can be
done as early as the first few months of
pregnancy. It identifies the sickle gene,
rather than the hemoglobin it makes. |
