Table 1.

Complications of sickle cell disease

Acute	Chronic
Painful crisis	Pulmonary hypertension and heart failure
Chest crisis	Renal failure
Splenic sequestration crisis^a	Liver failure
Aplastic crisis^b	Cerebrovascular disease
Cerebrovascular event^c	Avascular necrosis of the hip
Priapism	Osteomyelitis
Dactylitis	Leg ulcers
Acute thrombotic event	Gallstones
	Retinopathy
	Chronic pain
	Impact on education/learning opportunities

↵^aTypically only occurs in the under 5-year-olds with haemoglobin SS disease;
↵^bAssociated with parvovirus B19;
↵^cPatients with sickle cell disease are predisposed to both ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke; ischaemic stroke associated with sickle cell disease is treated with exchange transfusion rather than typical stroke management.