A 10-year-old child with sickle cell disease presents with sudden severe pain in the thighs and lower back, accompanied by low-grade fever. Hemoglobin is stable at 8.0 g/dL. What type of sickle crisis is this?

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. Vaso-occlusive (painful) crisis

  1. Step 1: Vaso-occlusive crisis (pain crisis) is the most frequent acute complication of sickle cell anemia.
  2. Step 2: It occurs when rigid sickled erythrocytes occlude the microcirculation, causing localized tissue ischemia and severe bone and joint pain.
  3. Step 3: Initial therapy includes aggressive oral/IV hydration, multimodal analgesia (including opioids), and oxygenation if hypoxic.
Answer
Vaso-occlusive (painful) crisis.
Why not the others: 'Aplastic crisis' is caused by Parvovirus B19 infection with profound reticulocytopenia and rapid drop in hemoglobin; 'Splenic sequestration crisis' involves rapid pooling of blood in the spleen causing hypovolemia and massive splenomegaly; 'Hyperhemolytic crisis' features rapid accelerated hemolysis with reticulocytosis.

Practise more Pediatrics and Neonatology.

Free questions with an explanation for every one, and full timed Egyptian Medical Licensing Examination (EMLE) mock tests.

All Pediatrics and Neonatology questionsTake a mock test

More Pediatrics and Neonatology questions