- Many people with sickle cell disease have repeated episodes of severe pain that lasts for days, requiring hospital care. These episodes, called pain crises, may be caused by changes in blood flow. Researchers want to study blood flow in people with sickle cell disease who are having a pain crisis and compare it with their blood flow after the pain crisis has resolved. They also want to compare these measurements against blood flow in healthy people who do not have sickle cell disease.