Opioids and Sickle Cell Disease: From Opium to the Opioid Epidemic.

ABSTRACT: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disorder of hemoglobin structure. The clinical effects of the sickle gene are pleiotropic in nature causing multiple phenotypic expressions associated with the various complications of the disease. The hallmark of the disease is pain that could be acute, chronic, nociceptive, or neuropathic that could occur singly or in various combinations. The acute vaso-occlusive painful crisis (VOC) is the most common cause of admissions to the Emergency Department and/or the hospital. Although progress has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of SCD as well as in developing preventive and curative therapies, effective pain management continues to lag behind and depend mostly on the use of opioids. This review describes the history of opioids from the

SUBMITTER: Ballas SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7865837 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature