Cardiovasculaire ziekte bij sikkelcelziekte: ondergediagnosticeerde drijver van mortaliteit

<p>Cardiovascular complications are increasingly recognised as a major driver of morbidity and early mortality in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), yet they remain underdiagnosed and underappreciated. This contemporary review synthesises current knowledge across a spectrum of cardiovascular manifestations&mdash;including myocardial dysfunction, pulmonary hypertension, cardiac iron overload, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, stroke and sudden death&mdash;with emphasis on their unique pathophysiological mechanisms in SCD. We highlight emerging diagnostic tools such as cardiac magnetic resonance with T2* mapping and extracellular volume sequences, speckle-tracking echocardiography and invasive exercise testing, which can revealing a distinct phenotype combining restrictive cardiomyopathy and high-output heart failure. Practical algorithms for risk stratification and disease monitoring are presented alongside evidence-based and SCD-specific management approaches, including the rol