This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Sickle cell crises

Authoring team

Sickle cell crises occur most commonly in haemoglobin S homozygotes. Patients with mixed haemoglobinopathies may have sickling episodes e.g. SC disease.

Sickle cell crises do not occur in Hb S heterozygotes.

Most common sites of pain onset are the back or trunk, and pain may then radiate to the limbs (1):

  • duration is usually a few hours to days, but in some cases, it may persist for weeks
  • consider the complication of acute chest syndrome* in patients with fever and respiratory signs and symptom

* acute chest syndrome

  • a combination of pulmonary infarction, infection, and fat embolism
  • caused by sickling and ischaemia in deep tissues of the chest wall

The various sickle cell crises and their acute management are described below.

Reference:

  • (1) Charles K S, Friday M, Rochford E. Acute painful crisis in adults with sickle cell disease BMJ 2024; 386 :e075099 doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-075099

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.