Sickle Cell Pain course
This session describes the causes, presentation and management of pain in sickle cell disease.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:
- Describe the pathophysiology of acute sickle cell crisis
- Explain how multimodal analgesia is used in acute sickle cell crisis
- Identify the side-effects of strong opioid analgesia in acute sickle cell crisis
- Suggest strategies to minimize the potential risk of strong opioid side-effects
- Explain how other common pain syndromes are managed in sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects the haemoglobin in red blood cells causing them to become ‘sickle-shaped'.
Paul is the clinical lead for haemoglobinopathies (including sickle cell disease) at Barts Health NHS Trust and the East London and Essex Clinical Haemoglobinopathy Network. He trained in medicine at Oxford University and in haematology at the Royal Free Hospital, University College Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He completed a doctorate of Medicine while working at The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine.
He has held his current consultant post since 1998, during which he has established a large service for children and adults with Sickle Cell Disease. He has developed oral-based protocols for control of acute sickle pain, and has designed and implemented clinical trials for systematic evaluation of pain management in sickle cell disease.
Paul has contributed to evidence-based acute pain guidelines in sickle cell disease, is co-author of Sickle Cell Disease in Clinical Practice (Springer, 2015).
Paul is a content author for the e-PAIN project.
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