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Hydroxycarbamide treatment in children with Sickle Cell Anaemia is associated with more intact white matter integrity: a quantitative MRI study
Author(s) -
Kapustin Daniel,
Leung Jackie,
Odame Isaac,
Williams Suzan,
Shroff Manohar,
Kassner Andrea
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/bjh.16063
Subject(s) - hydroxycarbamide , medicine , white matter , magnetic resonance imaging , pathology , pediatrics , radiology , disease
Summary Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is a devastating genetic blood disorder leading to chronic anaemia, impaired cerebrovascular dilatory capacity and cerebral infarctions. Our aim was to assess the relationship between microstructural properties of the white matter (WM) and both cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) and cerebral blood flow, as well as the effects of hydroxycarbamide on these relationships. Our results demonstrate that mean CVR was increased in hydroxycarbamide‐treated patients compared to untreated patients. Moreover, untreated SCA patients had increased skew and kurtosis of mean diffusivity histograms in the WM compared to hydroxycarbamide‐treated patients and healthy age‐matched controls, indicating disruption of WM integrity. Regression analysis of CVR and WM mean diffusivity (MD) revealed a significant linear relationship between CVR and MD histogram skew and kurtosis in healthy controls, but not in either of the two SCA groups. These findings suggest that patients treated with hydroxycarbamide possess white matter MD histogram parameters which more closely resemble those of healthy controls.