RESULTS
Nineteen patients (12 oncology, 7 sickle cell) with a median age of 14.6
years received LDKI for a median of 6 days at a median initial dose of
0.06 mg/kg/h (1.1 mcg/kg/min) (Table 2). Patients with SCD were all
admitted for a VOE and only 2 of the 7 were on opioids (for 1 and 3
days) prior to initiation of LDKI. The other 5 patients were initiated
on LDKI on the day of admission with opioids. For patients with both
sickle cell disease and cancer, there was no significant change in pain
scores, heart rate or opioid utilization when comparing the day prior to
LDKI initiation (for oncology patients), the day of LDKI initiation, and
the two subsequent days after LDKI initiation (Table 3). No patient
developed hypertension or discontinued the LDKI due to intolerability.
Four patients had a single side effect each including two with
dream-like feeling (dysphoria) and one each with blurry vision and
drowsiness, one of which required LDKI dose reduction and none of which
were treated with benzodiazepines. For patients with SCD, comparing the
LDKI admission with prior admissions did not show a significant
difference in pain scores, opioid utilization or hospital length of stay
though there was a median 32% reduction in pain scores when comparing
the entire admission with LDKI to the prior admissions (Table 4).