SAN DIEGO – Whether hydroxyurea can avert a first stroke in children with sickle cell disease is a question that may be answered by a soon-to-be-started trial in Nigeria.
An estimated 15,000 children with sickle cell anemia have strokes each year in Nigeria, which is considered to have the largest burden of sickle cell disease in the world. Without treatment, about half of those children will have a second stroke within 2 years.
With completion of its feasibility trial results, SPIN (Primary Stroke Prevention in Children With Sickle Cell Anemia in Nigeria) will begin to examine two doses of hydroxyurea therapy, 20 mg/kg per day and 10 mg/kg per day, to determine whether the drug can prevent a first stroke in high-risk children.
In a video interview, Najibah A. Galadanci, MBBS, MPH, of Aminu Kano (Nigeria) Teaching Hospital, discusses how SPIN is addressing the unresolved clinical issue of hydroxyurea’s risks and benefits in children, and how research in Nigeria may provide adequate patient numbers to address a wide range of clinical questions about sickle cell disease.
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