A school-age child is admitted in vaso-occlusive sickle cell crisis.
The child’s care should include which intervention? (Select all that apply.)

An Apgar score of 10 at 1 minute after birth indicates that the infant is having no difficulty adjusting to extrauterine life but who should be assessed again at 5 minutes after birth. The Apgar score is a scoring system that evaluates the health of newborns at 1 and 5 minutes after birth based on five criteria: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 2, and the total score ranges from 0 to 10. A score of 7 to 10 is considered reassuring, a score of 4 to 6 is moderately abnormal, and a score of 0 to 3 is concerning.

Choice A is wrong because an Apgar score of 10 at 1 minute does not mean that the infant needs no further testing. The infant should still be assessed again at 5 minutes and monitored for any signs of distress or complications.

Choice B is wrong because an Apgar score of 10 at 1 minute does not indicate an infant in severe distress who needs resuscitation. An Apgar score of 0 to 3 would indicate a concerning condition that may require immediate intervention.

Choice C is wrong because an Apgar score of 10 at 1 minute does not predict a future free of neurologic problems. The Apgar score alone cannot be considered as evidence of, or a consequence of, asphyxia or brain injury; it does not predict individual neonatal mortality or neurologic outcome; and it should not be used for that purpose.

Normal ranges for each criterion are as follows:

• Appearance (color): pink all over (2 points), body pink but extremities blue (1 point), blue, bluish-gray, or pale all over (0 points)
• Pulse (heart rate): greater than 100 beats per minute (2 points), less than 100 beats per minute (1 point), absent (0 points)
• Grimace (response to stimulation): cough or sneeze, cry and withdrawal of foot with stimulation (2 points), facial movement/grimace with stimulation (1 point), absent (0 points)
• Activity (muscle tone): active movement (2 points), limbs flexed (1 point), limp or floppy (0 points)
• Respiration (breathing): good, strong cry (2 points), irregular, weak crying (1 point), absent (0 points)

The child’s care should include adequate hydration and pain management. The management of an acute event of a vaso-occlusive crisis is the use of potent analgesics (opioids), rehydration with normal saline or Ringer’s lactate, treatment of malaria (whether symptomatic or not) using artemisinin combination therapy, and the use of oxygen via face mask, especially for acute chest syndrome.

Choice A is wrong because correction of acidosis is not a specific intervention for the vaso- occlusive crisis.

Acidosis may occur as a complication of sickle cell disease, but it is not the primary cause of the crisis.

Choice D is wrong because the administration of heparin is not recommended for the vaso-occlusive crisis.

Heparin is an anticoagulant that may increase the risk of bleeding and does not prevent or treat the sickling process.

Normal ranges for hemoglobin are 11.5 to 15.5 g/dl for children after 2 years of age.

Normal ranges for reticulocyte count are 0.5% to 1.5% for adults and 0.5% to 2.5% for children.