Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Sickle cell crisis: A crisis of a different sort?
  1. Gurinder Kumar1,
  2. Ayesha Ateeq Al Muwaijei2,
  3. Aman Preet Singh Sohal2
  1. 1 Department of Paediatrics, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  2. 2 Department of Paediatric Neurology, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  1. Correspondence to Dr Gurinder Kumar, Department of Paediatrics, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; kumargurinder{at}gmail.com

Abstract

A 9-year-old boy with sickle cell disease (SCD) was presented to the emergency department with acute headache and swelling over his bilateral temporoparietal region. There was no history of antecedent trauma, fever, vomiting or other features of an intercurrent illness. On arrival, his blood pressure was 112/62 mm Hg, heart rate was 98/min and his Glasgow Coma Scale score was 15/15. There was evidence of significant scalp tenderness over the bilateral temporoparietal region. A complete neurological examination including direct and consensual pupillary response was unremarkable. Initial investigations revealed haemoglobin of 9.6 g/dL, leucocyte count of 6.8/mm3, platelet count of 219/mm3 and a normal coagulation profile. His current medications included hydroxyurea and penicillin prophylaxis. He underwent an urgent CT of the head followed by MRI of the brain, which revealed abnormalities as depicted in figures 1,2.

Question 1 Is this one of the most common neurological presentation seen in sickle cell crisis?

Question 2 How common is this presentation in paediatric SCD?

Question 3 What is the best way to manage this child?

  • haematology
  • imaging
  • neurology

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Contributors GK was involved in writing the manuscript. AAAM was involved in managing the patient and data collection. APSS finalised the manuscript and is guarantor of the paper.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent Parental/guardian consent obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.