Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Sickle Cell Pain

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in acute sickle cell pain crisis. The purpose of this study is to explore if hyperbaric oxygen therapy would decrease hospital length of stay and pain associated with acute sickle cell pain crisis. Eligibility criteria include both female and males age 19 years or older with sickle cell who are in an acute pain crisis. Exclusions include pregnancy and a sickle cell crisis complicated by any acute significant concomitant factors/conditions (i.e., acute chest syndrome, acute myocardial infarction/stroke). Interventions would be 1-3 hyperbaric oxygen sessions depending on response to the therapy. Each treatment session will be approximately two hours in length. Evaluation would be through participants' self assessment via the visual analog scale for pain level before and after treatments as well as tracking length of stay in the hospital.

The purpose of this study is to determine if hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment in participants experiencing sickle cell crisis would produce a decrease in pain and decrease in hospital length of stay. From the scholarly literature, many results point to the hypothesis that HBO may help ameliorate symptoms and have positive effects for sickle cell patients. However, no information has been gathered to date about how this may affect hospital length of stay. In addition, although a few studies did discuss pain reduction associated with HBO therapy, results are conflicting, and sample sizes are too small to carry any weight when compared against each other. With the currently proposed research, it is hoped that a larger sample size be collected to help generalize this information to more patients.

Current standard of care at University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Nebraska Medicine for patients identified as having sickle cell and experiencing an uncomplicated pain crisis that is not responding to acute treatment in the emergency department over the course of a few hours is to admit the patient to the hematology service. They will continue to receive IV fluid administration, oxygen, and usually large doses of pain medications, until their pain subsides. Patient's complete blood count (CBC) and comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) are monitored during this time for acute changes. Once pain has subsided and no signs of complications such as infection, etc. are found, the patient is discharged with follow up in hematology clinic. The purpose of this study is to explore if hyperbaric oxygen therapy would decrease hospital length of stay and pain associated with acute sickle cell pain crisis. Interventions would be 1-3 hyperbaric oxygen sessions depending on response to the therapy. Each treatment session will be approximately two hours in length. Evaluation would be through participants' self assessment via the visual analog scale for pain level before and after treatments as well as tracking length of stay in the hospital.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* \>19 years old patients who
* present with sickle cell disease who are currently in uncomplicated sickle cell crisis present at time of admission from the emergency department at UNMC

Exclusion Criteria:

* \< 19 years old,
* pregnant female,
* complicated sickle cell crisis present (i.e., concomitant MI, stroke, acute chest syndrome at time of presentation)