Hemoglobin and mean platelet volume predicts diffuse T1-MRI white matter volume decrease in sickle cell disease patients

This study quantifies global and regional brain volumes in adolescent and young adult patients with SCD and racially matched controls with the aim of distinguishing between age related changes associated with normal brain maturation and damage from sickle cell disease. T1 weighted images were acquired on 33 clinically asymptomatic SCD patients (age=21.3±7.8; F=18, M=15) and 32 racially matched control subjects (age=24.4±7.5; F=22, M=10). Exclusion criteria included pregnancy, previous overt stroke, acute chest, or pain crisis hospitalization within one month. All brain volume comparisons were corrected for age and sex. Globally, grey matter volume was not different but white matter volume was 8.1% lower (p=0.0056) in the right hemisphere and 6.8% (p=0.0068) in the left hemisphere in SCD patients compared with controls. Multivariate analysis retained hemoglobin (β=0.33; p=0.0036), sex (β=0.35; p=0.0017) and mean platelet volume (β=0.27; p=0.016) as significant factors in the final prediction model for white matter volume for a combined r2 of 0.37 (p<0.0001). Lower white matter volume was confined to phylogenetically younger brain regions in the anterior and middle cerebral artery distributions. Our findings suggest that there are diffuse white matter abnormalities in SCD patients, especially in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes, that are associated with low hemoglobin levels and mean platelet volume. The pattern of brain loss suggests chronic microvascular i...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research