Sickle Cell Disease Program

Adult Sickle Cell Disease Care

Specialized treatment for sickle cell disease and its complications

Sickle cell disease experts at NewYork-Presbyterian provide care for adults age 21 and older. Your customized multidisciplinary team includes hematologists, inpatient hospitalists, nurse practitioners and nurses, coordinators, and social workers. Each member of your team gets to know you well so that each time you visit us, you see the same familiar faces and feel at home. 

Sickle cell disease is not limited to the blood and can affect the entire body. At NewYork-Presbyterian, you'll have access to physicians from every discipline who help treat sickle cell disease and all of its complications.

Advanced facilities

We provide a range of services to monitor and treat sickle cell disease:

• State-of-the-art laboratory for blood draws
• Outpatient care through our clinics
• Inpatient care featuring 24/7 hospitalist coverage (doctors who always work in the hospital) and close collaboration with pain management specialists to provide speedy relief
• Critical care services in our intensive care unit
• A modern and comfortable infusion center for blood transfusions and fluid replacement, with convenient Saturday hours — no need to miss work
• Fast care for patients experiencing pain crises; patients are quickly triaged in our emergency room and begin receiving care to relieve discomfort
• An excellent blood bank which serves as a resource for transfusions

Medical treatments for sickle cell disease

In addition to hydroxyurea and blood transfusions, we use new drugs for sickle cell disease that have been approved in recent years by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such as: 

• Voxelotor (Oxbryta®) – A drug that comes in tablets that can be taken by mouth or mixed with water to make a solution that can be easier for some patients to take. It works by binding to hemoglobin at the cellular level and keeping it in a state where it maintains oxygen. This prevents red blood cells from sickling and improves anemia. 
• Crizanlizumab (Adakveo®) – This medication is designed to reduce red blood cell sickling by binding to a protein called P-selectin. It is given intravenously (by vein) in our infusion center.
• L-glutamine (Endari®) – This medication is used to reduce the acute complications of sickle cell disease in patients age 5 and older. It comes in a powder for mixing with food or beverages.

Stem cell transplantation to cure sickle cell disease

Bone marrow transplantation works to cure sickle cell disease by replacing unhealthy blood-forming "stem" cells with healthy cells from a matched donor. Through the stem cell transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, we educate and counsel patients about this treatment and offer immunological typing to start the search for a donor. Interested patients with matched donors can receive all pre- and post-transplant care here in Brooklyn, and undergo the transplant procedure at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.

Special services for adults with sickle cell disease

In addition to sickle cell disease treatments, we provide:

• Facilitated access to ensure you can connect with our services seamlessly
• Social work support to help manage issues related to disability and employment
• Preconception counseling, genetic counseling and testing, and maternal-fetal medicine (specialized care for complex pregnancies) for people with sickle cell disease or sickle cell trait who wish to start a family 
• Education and support addressing comprehensive health maintenance, such as keeping up with vaccines and appointments with other specialists you may need
• Access to clinical trials of innovative therapies

Why choose us

When you come to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital for sickle cell disease treatment, you benefit from the experience and resources of one of the nation's most renowned medical centers, NewYork-Presbyterian. You may also have opportunities to participate in clinical trials of innovative new therapies. Through our connection with NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, you have access to one of the nation's strongest stem cell transplantation programs for sickle cell disease, with all of your care before and after the transplant available here at our hospital, closer to home. Make an appointment for a consultation to learn how we can help you live the best life possible with sickle cell disease.