CISA is now advancing with a study that focuses on pregnant women with sickle cell disease being cared for at the Lucrécia Paim Maternity Hospital with the objective of determining the outcomes of pregnancy and contribute to a reduction in the morbidity and mortality associated with this disease.

The study, entitled “Surveillance of SCD pregnancies. Preventing Strokes in Angola”, lasts for a period of one year and seeks to determine the complications experienced by pregnant women suffering from sickle cell disease and receiving treatment at the Lucrécia Paim Maternity Hospital, especially the cases that may result in maternal mortality. To this end, this project deploys a transcranial echo doppler for the early detection of patients at risk of strokes given that the pregnancy of women suffering sickle cell disease is linked to heightened risk of eclampsia, pre-eclampsia, maternal mortality and strokes.

The transcranial doppler is a very well-established predictor of cerebrovascular symptoms. Despite the reference values for doppler parameters being defined for children with sickle cell disease and routinely used, there are no specific figures for pregnant women. The study of the risk factors associated with adverse outcomes is of extreme importance to defining standards for monitoring and supervision able to thereby reduce the morbidity and mortality both of mothers and their babies.