Morphine Clearance and Glomerular Filtration in Sickle Cell Crisis Patients in Intensive Care

Official title: Morphine Clearance and Glomerular Filtration in Sickle Cell Patients in Crisis in Intensive Care Summary: Background: Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder of haemoglobin (which carries oxygen in red blood cells). The shape of sickle cell-patients' red blood cells is abnormal.

Thus, red blood cells can be blocked in small vessels, responsible for painful crises due to a lack of downstream circulation. These crisis (acute vaso-occlusive crisis) require strong treatment based on morphine, and often require intensive care.However, treatment is often insufficiently effective.

Patient can also experiment acute chest syndrome, a complication of vaso-occlusive crisis, which can be responsible for respiratory failure. In addition, patients with sickle cell disease frequently have kidney damage called sickle cell nephropathy, which in the early stages of the disease is responsible for renal hyperfiltration, meaning that the kidneys filter the blood more than necessary, with faster elimination of drugs.

For example, it is known that higher doses of antibiotics must be used in these patients than in the general population for the same effectiveness.