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Multiple Choice

Which statement about pain in a vaso-occlusive crisis is true?

Pain during a vaso-occlusive crisis comes from sickled cells blocking small blood vessels and causing ischemia in bone and marrow. This mechanism tends to affect multiple skeletal sites rather than just one spot, so the pain is usually multifocal. Because many bones are paired and share similar marrow distribution, the resulting pain often appears bilateral and symmetric, involving two or more sites at once. Fever is not required for a VOC and can be absent, and trunk involvement can occur, so statements claiming the pain never involves the trunk or that fever is always present aren’t accurate. Thus, the true pattern is that pain typically involves two or more sites and bone pain tends to be bilateral and symmetric.

Pain during a vaso-occlusive crisis comes from sickled cells blocking small blood vessels and causing ischemia in bone and marrow. This mechanism tends to affect multiple skeletal sites rather than just one spot, so the pain is usually multifocal. Because many bones are paired and share similar marrow distribution, the resulting pain often appears bilateral and symmetric, involving two or more sites at once. Fever is not required for a VOC and can be absent, and trunk involvement can occur, so statements claiming the pain never involves the trunk or that fever is always present aren’t accurate. Thus, the true pattern is that pain typically involves two or more sites and bone pain tends to be bilateral and symmetric.