The Interaction of Alpha-Thalassemia and Homozygous Sickle-Cell Disease

Abstract

Patients with homozygous sickle-cell disease may be homozygous for alpha-thalassemia 2 (α–/α–), may be heterozygous for alpha-thalassemia 2 (α–/αα), or may have a normal alpha-globin-gene complement (αα/αα). We compared the clinical and hematologic features of 44 patients who had sickle-cell disease and homozygous alpha-thalassemia 2 with those of controls with the two hematologic conditions.