Clinical and Biologic Outcomes Following the Administration of Hydroxyurea to Homozygote Sickle Cell Patients in Two Health Facilities of Yaounde

Sickle cell disease is the most frequent genetic disease worldwide with high mortality and morbidity rates. Several therapeutic medications have been put in place amongst which hydroxurea, an antineoplastic for which the clinical-biologic benefits for the patients have been established in several countries. However in our country few studies have been done on the benefits of this drug.

Our objectives were to determine the clinical and biologic responses upon the administration of hydroxyurea to sickle cell patients followed up at the Yaounde Central Hospital and the Frantz Fanon medical foundation.

We carried out a descriptive cross sectional study with retrospective and prospective components from January 2017 to June 2017. All homozygote sickle cell patients were included in this study (children and adults).

We enrolled 40 patients. The median age was 22 years with extremes of 4 and 50 years. We found a good clinical response marked by a significant reduction by 68% of the number of vaso occlusive crises (VOC) per year. We also found a good biologic response through a statistically significant increase of 7.35% in the level of hemoglobin F (Hb F). However several patients (40%) had poor compliant to the treatment.