Access to sickle cell cure becomes reality at LUTH 

The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), in partnership with Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria (SCFN), weekend established a high-quality, safe bone marrow transplant programme that meets international standards for the cure of sickle cell disease in Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Chief Medical Director of LUTH, Professor Wasiu Adeyemo and National Director, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria (SCFN), Dr Annette Akinsete, on Sunday in Lagos.

It said Nigeria had the most significant burden of sickle cell disease worldwide, adding that individuals affected with the disease suffer life-threatening complications from early childhood, serious damage to their organs and reduced life expectancy.

“The establishment of comprehensive care programmes, including newborn screening, penicillin prophylaxis, and Transcranial Doppler screening in children to identify those at risk of stroke.

“This is followed by chronic blood transfusion therapy and the increasing use of hydroxyurea therapy, has improved the proportion of children surviving into adulthood.

“But, it has not improved the proportion of adults living to older age, especially for the most severely affected.

“Bone marrow transplant using a donor from a family member is an established cure for this disease,” the statement said.

 The statement added that bone marrow transplant is associated with known complications such as infection and graft-versus-host disease (when donor cells can attack the patient), infertility, and even death.