| acute chest syndrome: the role of erythro-exchange in patients with sickle cell disease in sicily. | acute chest syndrome (acs) describes a syndrome characterized by the presence of a new pulmonary infiltrate on a chest x-ray, fever, and respiratory symptoms and is the leading cause of death and hospitalization in sickle cell disease (scd). we studied 21 patients affected by scd (13 hbsbeta+, 4 hbs beta(o), 4 hbss, mean age 38.2 years). six out of the 21 patients developed one episode of acs (two patients had positive blood cultures, for mycoplasma pneumoniae and haemophilus influenzae respecti ... | 2003 | 12877891 |