Integrative Medicine in Pain Management in Sickle Cell Disease

This study will help the investigators to learn whether acupuncture, which is a non-opioid alternative pain management approach, can help to manage pain in patients with sickle cell disease and the underlying mechanisms. Acupuncture involves inserting very fine needles through the skin at specific points on the body to different depths. Acupuncture may help relieve pain and it is used for a wide range of pain conditions. Participation in this study will include 14 study visits over around 6-8 weeks and 12 months follow-up visits. This is a randomized study, which means subjects are randomly assigned to one of two groups. During the study visits: 1) Subjects will be randomized to 10 sessions with either traditional acupuncture (very fine acupuncture needles will be inserted into the skin) or laser acupuncture without needles (a laser acupuncture device will be used and there will be no physical contact between the device and subject's skin) and each session will last for 30 minutes, 2) Subjects will answer questions about their personal and health related information for assessing health condition during the in-person and follow-up study visits, 3) Investigators will perform quantitative sensory testing (QST) before and after the acupuncture sessions on the surface of selected testing areas in subjects to assess the somatosensory functionality, 4) Investigators will record brain signals before and after acupuncture sessions using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-an imaging tool to analyze brain structural and functional features and metabolites profile, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-an imaging tool to examine the brain hemodynamic activity, and electroencephalography (EEG) -an imaging tool used to detect the brain electrical activity, 5) Subjects will receive evoked pain stimuli on the left gastrocnemius muscle during MRI, fNIRS and EEG, 6) Female subjects will take a urine pregnancy test during the screening visit as well as before each behavioral and MRI visit, 7) Investigators will collect an inner eyelid image collection for examining the hemoglobin level and 8) subjects will have two blood draws before and after the entire acupuncture sessions for regular blood examination and circulating biomarkers' analyses. Some details regarding the interventions are purposefully omitted at this time to preserve scientific integrity. They will be included after the trial is complete.

Inclusion criteria

• Any gender
• 14-17 (Adolescents) and 18-80 (Adults) years old
• Right-handed
• Either outpatient or inpatient or status changing between each other
• Have been diagnosed with SCD (includes but not limited to SS, SC or other type) and experiencing chronic pain in the past 6 months or vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in the past 12 months.
• Analgesic therapy prescribed by primary hematologists (or physicians for emergency or primary care) including pain-relieving medications (e.g. Morphine, coderin, Fentanyl, Oxycodone), Hydroxyurea (e.g. Droxia, Hydrea, Siklos), L-glutamine oral powder (Endari), Crizanlizumab (Adakveo), Voxelotor (Oxbryta), and/or other palliative treatment allowed, not required.
• Willing to limit the current and the introduction of any new medications or treatment modalities for control of pain symptoms during the study visits.
• Able to travel to the study site for participating scheduled visits (questionnaires, QST, EEG and MRI) and receive acupuncture treatments up to two times weekly for 5 weeks as scheduled.
• We will recruit without regard to ethnicity, however, due to the genetic nature of SCD, subjects will primarily be African-American or of African descent, although there are individuals with SCD who come from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern, or Asian Indian backgrounds. The ethnic distribution in our prior studies is 95% Black/African American with 5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race). As these are minority groups many individuals may be from lower income situations.
• Fluent in English and capable of giving written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Subjects with Covid-19 suspicion or confirmation
• Recent/ongoing alternative pain management with acupuncture or acupuncture-related techniques within the last 6-months.
• Presence of a known coagulation abnormality: Thrombocytopenia (mild thrombocytopenia with a platelets range of 51,000-100,000/ul will be further evaluated for inclusion consideration), or bleeding diathesis that may preclude the safe use of acupuncture.
• Presence of a concurrent autoimmune or inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel disease, etc. that causes pain or any other chronic pain condition with pain greater than sickle pain.
• Diseases/conditions history includes but not limited to:

• head injury with substantial loss of consciousness
• peripheral neuropathy of known cause that interferes with activities of daily living
• known non-SCD related Severe psychiatric illnesses (e.g. current schizophrenia, major depression with suicidal ideation).
• significant visual, motor, or auditory impairment that would interfere with ability to perform study visits-related activities
• Medication:

Recent (30 days) initiation or dose adjustment of stimulant medications, such as those used to treat ADD/ADHD (e.g., amphetamine/dextroamphetamine [Adderall®], methylphenidate, dextroamphetamine), or the fatigue associated with sleep apnea or shift work (e.g., modafinil).

• Contraindications to MRI scans includes but are not limited to: surgical clips, surgical staples, metal implants, cardiac rhythmic disorders, seizure disorders, and certain metallic dental material will not be scheduled for MRI visits.
• History vascular surgery in lower limbs or current lower limb vascular dysfunction will not receive conditioned pressure pain stimuli in the lower limb.
• Subjects with Worker's Compensation, Workman's Compensation, civil litigation or disability claims pertinent to the subject's sickle disease; current involvement in out-of-court settlements for claims pertinent to the subject's sickle disease; or currently receiving monetary compensation as a result of any of the above.
• Participation of other studies: Concurrent participation in other therapeutic trials with overlapping research purposes.
• Pregnant or nursing.