Lise Estcourt
Medical Director for Transfusion at NHS Blood and Transplant and Associate Professor of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine at the University of Oxford; Clinical Lead of the Systematic Review Initiative.
2
APPEARANCES
1
PODCASTS
Sep 30, 2026
Lise EstcourtGUEST
No, despite eight years apart, it highlights the real paucity of evidence about how to use red cell transfusions effectively for people with sickle cell disease.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
So what the original review and this overview show shows is that there's benefits of red cell transfusions for people to prevent stroke and prevent silent cerebral impacts.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
And so I think that's Well, a shock to me and I think to potentially others, but sickle cell disease is the most common genetic disorder in the UK now.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
And we really don't have good evidence on how to manage sickle cell disease properly and use red cell transfusions effectively.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
And I think that's really important because red cell transfusions, although they can be effective and beneficial for patients with sickle cell disease, they do have a lot of complications as well.
Catherine KimberHOST
What do you think will be the impact of this review and what do you think will happen next?
Lise EstcourtGUEST
So Cochrane overviews are typically conducted to answer questions related to the preventional treatment of various disorders, s- usually healthcare interventions.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
And there are five main reasons why people do a Cochrane overview, and they can assess different aspects.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
So, one is looking at different interventions for the same condition or population.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
So, looking at pain management for women in labor is an example of a Cochrane overview.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
Secondly, it could look at different approaches to applying the same intervention for the same condition or population.
Lise EstcourtGUEST
So here, an example is assessing sumatriptan, uh, for acute migraine attacks in adults and looking at all the different routes of administration in different reviews.