Case Presentation: A 12-year-old Caucasian male with no significant medical history presented with a 6-day history of bilateral leg pain following a soccer game. As an avid soccer player, he had experienced similar episodes over the past three years, managed previously as “growing pains” with NSAIDs and acetaminophen. However, this presentation raised concern for an [...]

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience painful and life threatening vaso-occlusive episodes (VOE) that cause frequent hospitalizations, account for >80% of their >$1 million lifetime healthcare costs, and can be fatal. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence addressing inpatient VOE care leading to a stark absence of evidence-informed guidelines. As a first [...]

Background: Care of hospitalized patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) presents unique challenges due to variability in care, the interplay of acute and chronic pain, and the complex social determinants of health among patients with SCD. Despite comprising only a small percentage of admissions at our academic medical center, admissions for acute SCD-related illnesses have [...]

Case Presentation: A 28-year-old Caucasian male of European descent presented to the emergency department with a four day history of left upper quadrant abdominal pain that occurred following a day of skiing at 11,000 feet. On initial examination, he was afebrile, hemodynamically stable, and in distress from abdominal pain that localized to his left upper [...]

Case Presentation: A 32-year-old woman with sickle cell HbSS disease presented due to acute encephalopathy in the setting of recent admission for diffuse urticarial rash treated with steroids and diphenhydramine. She was found to be hypotensive, tachycardic, and tachypneic with development of fever soon after presentation. Chest x-ray showed left basilar opacities. She was intubated [...]

Case Presentation: A 25-year-old Black transgender woman receiving cross-sex hormone therapy (CSHT) with a PMH of multiple hospitalizations for HbSS sickle cell disease (SCD) complicated by acute chest syndrome, chronic left upper extremity DVT, and painful vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) was admitted for acute back and leg pain. She described the pain as constant, sharp, 10/10 [...]