Pain crises in children with sickle cell anemia

Sickle cell anemia (SCA) illustrates some of the challenges of keeping current with the management of a chronic illness. As improvements in standard care are incorporated into practice, one needs to periodically reexamine the natural history of the condition, which may be modified by the new therapies. Thus, even in a disease studied as well as SCA, there is an ongoing need for continuing well-characterized multicenter studies.