EDC Co-Director Dr. Maria Mori Brooks will lead the data coordinating center for a $19.2 million international NIH study that will evaluate treatments for sickle cell disease
The clinical trial will assess two treatment strategies for adults with sickle cell disease. In particular, the trial will assess the effectiveness of adding red blood cell exchange transfusion (or erythrocytapheresis) to standard of care medical therapy as compared with the standard of care.
Exchange transfusion is a process that replaces a large proportion of the patient’s blood with donor blood; the procedure has been widely used, but physicians don’t agree on how effective it is for delaying complications and preventing death. The Epidemiology Data Center at the University of Pittsburgh will serve as the data coordinating center for the trial and will lead the development and administration of the data collection and statistical analyses. The trial has been covered in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.