Blood online
Home About Blood Authors Subscriptions Permission Advertising Public Access contact us
 

 
Advanced
Current Issue
First Edition
Archives
Submit to Blood
Search
American Society of Hematology
Meeting Abstracts
Email Alerts
 Blood, 1 February 2008, Vol. 111, No. 3, pp. 997-1003.
Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on October 16, 2007; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-07-089144.

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Appendices and Table
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
blood-2007-07-089144v1
111/3/997    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Right arrow Rights and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Solomon, L. R.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Solomon, L. R.
Related Collections
Right arrow Free Research Articles
Right arrow Perspectives
Right arrow Clinical Trials and Observations
Right arrow Red Cells
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

arrow to previous article Previous Article  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Article next article arrow

PERSPECTIVE

Treatment and prevention of pain due to vaso-occlusive crises in adults with sickle cell disease: an educational void

Lawrence R. Solomon1

1 Adult Sickle Cell Disease Program, Section of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

Pain due to vaso-occlusive crisis is the major cause of hospital use in sickle cell disease. Although available guidelines provide recommendations for opioid administration in this setting, only 4 (21%) of 19 medical textbooks present treatment regimens that are consistent with them. Moreover, only 7 texts (37%) note that addiction is infrequent in this population, while 11 (92%) of 12 texts provide such reassurance for cancer-related pain (P < .005). Finally, hydroxyurea use to decrease the frequency of vaso-occlusive crises is completely defined only in 2 textbooks. Thus, most medical texts provide neither adequate information for the treatment or prevention of pain due to vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle cell disease nor reassurance of the unlikelihood of addiction in this population. In contrast, treatment recommendations for less common hematologic disorders are consistent with current standards in 53% to 84% of appropriate texts (P < .05). Limited knowledge regarding the principles and appropriateness of opioid therapy; a lack of evidence-based research on pain control; and misconceptions and prejudices about drug abuse and addiction contribute to this educational void. Thus, research and training on pain control in sickle cell disease are needed to parallel studies of environmental and genetic factors contributing to the known clinical heterogeneity of this disorder.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?




click for free articles
home about blood authors subscriptions permissions advertising public access contact us
Sponsor: Genentech BioOncology and and Biogen Idec
Blood Online is supported in part by
Genentech BioOncology and Biogen Idec
  Copyright © 2008 by American Society of Hematology         Online ISSN: 1528-0020