Mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve repair in a patient with sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is a rare entity for the European cardiac surgeon to encounter. Low oxygen tension, acidosis and hypothermia may induce sickling and pose a great risk in this population during open heart surgery. We report the management of a 57-year-old Greek woman with homozygous sickle cell disease and rheumatoid arthritis, who underwent preoperative partial exchange transfusion and subsequent mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve repair at normothermia.