Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

The Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program (CSCP) of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is the sole provider of specialized care for children with sickle cell disease (SCD) in western Pennsylvania and the neighboring counties of Ohio and West Virginia.  The Children's SCD program is contracted by the Department of Health, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide newborn screening and comprehensive care for patients with SCD from birth to age 21 years in western Pennsylvania.

The goal of comprehensive care is to:

• Maintain good health in children with SCD
• Provide for treatment of complications that accompany SCD
• Educate SCD children and their care givers in self-directed care
• Assist children in becoming highly functioning adults as they transition to adult SCD care

Comprehensive SCD care is provided by an expert team that includes physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers and behavioral health specialists.  SCD children also have access to a network of specialists in pulmonology, cardiology, ophthalmology, genetics and pain management – all with specific expertise in SCD.

CSCP conducts three SCD clinics each week, and its staff travels to two satellite clinic locations three times each year.

To make a referral or to speak with a member of the CSCP pediatric team, please call 412.692.5055.

Additional Information About CSCP

To enable children with SCD to enjoy fun activities in a safe, medically supervised environment, and to help them learn about the best ways to take care of themselves, CSCP organizes an annual summer camp, a winter holiday party and various events for teens.   CSCP also collaborates with organizations, such as the Children's Sickle Cell Foundation, Inc., to provide social and educational opportunities for SCD children.

Ongoing research projects include a novel, a gentler type of bone marrow transplant with the end-goal of curing SCD, screening for and treatment of pulmonary hypertension, and clinical trials of new drugs such as oral iron chelators and inhaled nitric oxide.

CSCP also leads a consortium of providers of specialty and community-based care for SCD in the goal of forming a network of specialty care in western Pennsylvania.  This project, funded by the Health Resource Service Administration, strives to:

• Enhance follow-up of newborn screening
• Educate health care providers and the community regarding SCD
• Deliver comprehensive care from childhood through adulthood
• Screen and counsel individuals who are carriers of sickle cell trait – people
  who are at risk of having a child with SCD

To make a referral or to speak with a member of the pediatric CSCP team, please call 412.692.5055.

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