Table 1.

Palliative Management of Sickle Cell Disease and its Complications.

Management	Definition
1. Supportive	Management intended to maintain the essential requirements for good health such balanced diet, sleep, hydration, folic acid, etc.
2. Symptomatic	Management targeted to alleviate the symptoms of the disease as they occur. These include blood transfusion for symptomatic anemia, analgesics for pain, antibiotics for infections, etc.
3. Preventative	Approaches to prevent the occurrence of complications of the disease. These include things like vaccination, avoidance of stressful situations, transfusion to prevent the recurrence of stroke, etc.
4. Abortive	Major purpose of this approach is to abort painful crisis thus preventing them from getting worse or precipitating other complications. Nitric oxide aborted VOCs in the ED but not during hospitalization.

Adapted from Blood. 2012;120(18):3647–56. Used with permission.