Overview
Dr. Marianne Yee is a pediatric hematologist with clinical research focus in sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion medicine. Children and adults with severe complications of SCD such as stroke require monthly blood transfusions to prevent disease complications. Chronic transfusion therapy (CTT) provides healthy red blood cells (RBCs) and suppresses ongoing damage from sickle red blood cells. However, despite monthly transfusions, some patients continue to have progressive sickle cell complications or stroke. The success of CTT is dependent on the overall survival of each transfusion received. Factors that may impact transfusion survival may be related to the patient’s immune system and spleen activity or to the blood donor’s RBCs.
In collaboration with Emory's Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies (CTCT), Dr. Yee has an active program for biotin labeling allogeneic RBC transfusions to study transfusion effectiveness in individuals with SCD and transfusion dependent hemoglobinopathies.