Adaptive Platform Trial for Pain Management in Sickle Cell Vaso-Occlusive Crisis

Abstract

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a severe hemoglobinopathy, characterized by recurrent vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) causing intense pain and frequent hospitalizations in adult patients. Current French and British guidelines recommend rapid administration of strong opioids, primarily through patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), as the reference treatment for hospitalized patients experiencing VOC. However, opioid use is associated with dose-dependent adverse effects, including nausea, constipation, pruritus, sedation, and hypoventilation, the latter representing a risk factor for acute chest syndrome. The hypothesis underlying this study is that multimodal analgesia-combining morphine PCA with co-analgesics such as paracetamol-can significantly reduce morphine consumption during hospitalization compared to opioid-only analgesia, while maintaining effective pain control. Although several co-analgesic agents (paracetamol, NSAIDs, nefopam, tramadol, ketamine) are recommended by expert guidelines, including those from the American Society of Hematology (2020) and French recommendations (2025), the level of evidence supporting their use in adult sickle cell patients remains low or non-existent for most agents, with no randomized controlled trials available for nefopam, tramadol, or ketamine. Using an adaptive platform design, this trial aims to compare multiple analgesic strategies against standard opioid-based care, generating higher-quality evidence to optimize pain management protocols for adult patients experiencing VOC

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