SPLENIC INFARCTION IN A PATIENT WITH SICKLE-CELL-HEMOGLOBIN-C DISEASE: Report of a Case Occurring Following Air Travel

SULLIVAN, 1 in 1950, reported the occurrence of splenic infarction after air travel in a Negro whose erythrocytes exhibited the sickling phenomenon. Since 1950 a number of cases of splenic infarction in association with air travel in sicklemics have been reported.* By means of electrophoretic studies of the hemoglobin, it has been established that this type of infarction may occur in Negroes having either sickle-cell trait or sickle-cell-hemoglobin-C disease. 5 From previous reports, it appears that exposure to altitudes above 10,000 feet is required for splenic infarction to occur in persons with sickle-cell trait but that splenic infarction can occur in association with sickle-cell-hemoglobin-C disease upon exposure to altitudes abve 5000 feet.† All of the previously reported cases have been males, principally men in military service. The case reported here is that of a young Negro woman with sickle-cell-hemoglobin-C disease who developed splenic infarction during a commercial air flight. Report