Protein predicts sickle-cell danger
By Ben Harder
From Atlanta, at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology
A biological marker of heart trouble can be used to identify sickle-cell anemia patients who are at greatest risk of developing a serious complication.
Pulmonary hypertension—high blood pressure of the arteries in the lungs—puts stress on the heart and is a major cause of disability and death among sickle-cell patients. Doctors can diagnose pulmonary hypertension using an echocardiogram, but they have difficulty predicting which patients will develop it.