Only 3% of US sickle cell patients receive red blood cell exchange for disease, researchers find

Various factors block sufferers of disease from receiving treatment that is effective and has widespread availability

Sickle cell patients are missing out on an effective treatment despite widespread US hospital access to the technology, new research has found.

That treatment is called a red blood cell exchange, a procedure that discards a patient's damaged red blood cells while simultaneously mixing the patient's remaining plasma, platelets and white blood cells with red blood cells from a donor before returning them to the body.