A Face in the Crowd: Trigeminal Neuralgia and Atypical Facial Pain

Supported by an educational grant from Novartis.
Developed in cooperation with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects approximately 100,000 people in the United States. SCD is characterized by extremely painful, acute pain episodes known as vaso-occlusive crises (VOC). VOC are the primary presenting morbidity of SCD and cause of hospitalization in 95% of cases. Recurrent VOC episodes have a significant, negative impact on health related quality of life and have a greater impact than cumulative organ damage. In 2020, the American Society of Hematology published a novel guideline focused exclusively on the management of acute and chronic pain in SCD. This course evaluates those recommendations for acute pain management of VOC and uses a case based approach to discuss a sensible and balanced strategy for pain and symptom management.