High Hemoglobin F in a Saudi Child Presenting with Pancytopenia

Abstract

Saudi Arabia has a high prevalence of sickle cell disease with a wide spectrum of clinical presentations, and sickle cell disease patients are divided according to the clinical phenotypes. Sickle cell disease patients who have higher expression of hemoglobin F level are reported to experience milder disease since high hemoglobin F is thought to ameliorate the disease manifestations. However, the effects are not consistent since hemoglobin F is not equally distributed among erythrocytes. Multiple factors can help determine the level of fetal hemoglobin in adults. Here we report a case of a Saudi patient who presented with her first crisis at the age of 6 years.