The Role of Painimation in Sickle Cell Disease Pain Management: A New Era in Pain Assessment

The novel electronic visualization toolPainimation reframes pain assessment in sickle cell disease—moving beyond single-number scores to animated, multidimensional reports clinicians can use at the bedside or remotely.

Sickle cell–related pain is heterogeneous and often poorly captured by numeric scales, which limits targeted management. A Carnegie Mellon team paired real-time app reports with ultra–high-resolution MRI in adults with sickle cell disease and matched healthy controls (27 patients; 30 pain-free comparators), analyzing connectivity in the default mode, salience, and somatosensory networks.

App responses correlated with changes in brain connectivity: specific animation descriptors mapped to altered somatosensory and salience-network patterns, indicating alignment between subjective animation choices and reported imaging signals.

This observed relationship suggests biomarker potential but does not establish diagnostic utility. Replication, prospective validation, and formal diagnostic-performance assessment are required before treating Painimation-derived profiles as objective biomarkers. Practical integration will need EHR and telehealth workflow mapping, brief clinician orientation, and measurement of time-to-complete in acute versus outpatient settings—adoption depends on pragmatic fit and minimal workflow disruption.