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Your doctor may use a number of tests to diagnose sickle cell disease if various screening tests show that you might have the condition.
People who do not know whether they make sickle hemoglobin or another abnormal hemoglobin, such as SC, Sβ thalassemia, and SE, can find out by having their blood tested. This way, they can learn whether they carry a gene—or have the trait—for an abnormal hemoglobin that they could pass on to a child.
With this information, parents can be better informed about the chances of having a child with some type of sickle cell disease, such as hemoglobin SS or SC, Sβ thalassemia, or others.
When a child has sickle cell disease, early diagnosis is important to better prevent complications.
Every state in the United States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories require that every baby be tested for sickle cell disease as part of a newborn screening program. In newborn screening programs, blood from a heel prick is collected in “spots” on a special paper. The hemoglobin from this blood is then analyzed in special labs. Newborn screening results are sent to the doctor who ordered the test and to the child’s primary doctor.
If a baby is found to have sickle cell disease, health providers from a special follow-up newborn screening group contact the family directly to make sure that the parents know the results. The child is always retested to be sure that the diagnosis is correct.
Newborn screening programs also find out whether the baby has an abnormal hemoglobin trait. If so, the parents are informed, and counseling is offered. Remember that when a child has sickle cell trait or sickle cell disease, a future sibling or the child’s own future child may be at risk.
Doctors can also diagnose sickle cell disease before a baby is born. This is done using a sample of amniotic fluid, the liquid in the sac surrounding a growing embryo, or of tissue taken from the placenta, the organ that attaches the umbilical cord to the mother’s womb.
Testing before birth can be done as early as 8 to 10 weeks into the pregnancy. This testing looks for the sickle hemoglobin gene rather than the abnormal hemoglobin.