Sickle cell disease

Bone marrow - nonneoplastic
Systemic disorders
Sickle cell disease

Topic Completed: 1 December 2006

Revised: 8 August 2019

Copyright: 2002-2019, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

PubMed Search: Sickle cell disease [title] bone marrow [title]

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Table of Contents

Cite this page: Pernick N. Sickle cell disease. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/bonemarrowsicklecelldisease.html. Accessed January 19th, 2020.

Definition / general

High sinusoidal blood flow in bone marrow predisposes it to blood stasis, causing regional hypoxia, acidosis, sickling and then thrombosis and infarction
Other complications are osteomyelitis and avascular necrosis

Diagrams / tables

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Pathophysiology

Case reports

8 month old girl with sickle cell disease and Salmonella osteomyelitis (Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 2004;148:1695)
23 year old man with sickle cell crisis associated with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (Am J Hematol 2004;77:229)
Man with extensive bone marrow necrosis as presenting manifestation of sickle cell disease in Africa (Med Trop (Mars) 2004;64:179)

Microscopic (histologic) description

May have increased normoblasts and megaloblastic changes due to folate deficiency
Increased perivascular fibrosis in small and medium sized vessels (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2004;128:634)
Occasional aplastic crisis

Microscopic (histologic) images

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Fibrosis

Infarction of medullary cavity

Peripheral smear images

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Sickled erythrocytes

Positive stains

CD1a, CD1b and CD1c in monocytes (Hum Immunol 2004;65:1370)

Additional references

eMedicine: Sickle Cell Anemia