MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24582" align="alignleft" width="169"] Dr. Samir Ballas[/caption] Samir K. Ballas MD FACP Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics Department of Medicine/Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, PA Medicalresearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Ballas: Previous studies have shown that the incidence of overt stroke is about 11% in children with sickle cell anemia by ages 2 - 20 years. Untreated stokes recur periodically with increasing severity and mortality. Transfusion therapy has been documented to decrease the frequency and morbidity of stroke in children by 90%. Accordingly, children who develop overt stroke are treated with chronic blood exchange transfusion to prevent the recurrence of additional strokes. When children reach the age of 18-20 years their medical care is transitioned to adult programs. This transition process is associated with several issues one of which is the discontinuation of chronic blood exchange transfusion in patients with history of overt stokes partly due to logistic considerations and partly due to lack of research in strokes in adult patients and the complications of chronic blood transfusion . Medicalresearch.com: What are the main findings? Dr. Ballas: The major finding of the study is that the discontinuation of chronic blood exchange after transition to adult programs is associated with increased mortality. All the patients who discontinued blood transfusion died within 3-5 years after transition whereas patients who continued having blood exchange transfusion survived to a mean age of 36 years at the time of writing this study.