Anatomical Aspects of Sickle Cell Disease Term Paper by Top Papers

The paper relates that sickle cell disease is caused by a genetic mutation which makes blood cells take the shape of a sickle and become rigid. The paper explains that as a result of their shape and inflexibility, sickle cells cannot travel easily through the narrow blood vessels and tend to form clumps which preclude blood from reaching various organs, joints, and other body parts and this causes a host of problems. The paper reveals that the disease can manifest itself in more or less debilitating ways, ranging from fatigue to stroke, and produce a great deal of pain. The paper relates that there are treatments for different kinds of sickle cell disease, but it still has the effect of shortening the sufferer's lifespan to about 42 year for men and 48 years for women and producing much suffering while the patient lives.