Editorial for “Acute pain treatment in patients transitioned to buprenorphine: evidence of equivalent pain relief”

Pain Treatment in Patients Transitioned to Buprenorphine: Evidence of equivalent pain relief" to the Journal of Sickle Cell Disease.Opioid agonists have been the mainstay of treatment for SCD vasoocclusive crisis (VOCs) for decades., Emergency Department (ED) and inpatient pain dominate all clinical presentations for SCD.Most SCD patients being treated for VOCs will receive opioids.1 The benefits include, decreased acute pain, decreased discomfort, and less perceived suffering for the patient and family, along with improved subjective quality of life.But the risks, burdens and challenges of opioids for patients, their families and healthcare providers are front-page news.The American Society of Hematology 2020 guidelines for management of acute and chronic SCD pain, decries the paucity of evidence for the treatment of chronic SCD pain.It and a similar 2014 NIH guideline both focus on the evidence for the best treatment of VOC.2.Of interest, both guidelines promote opioids, but neither guideline mentions buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist at the mu opioid receptor, for acute or chronic pain.