Screening by Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography of Middle Cerebral Artery in Children With Sickle Cell Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND Sickle cell disease is a common haematological disorder. The prevalence of this disease varies from 2% to 34% in our country. There is neovascularisation and sickle red cell induced inflammation of the endothelium of vessels resulting in narrowing of the lumen of vessels. This occlusive vasculopathy results in increased blood flow velocities in major intracranial vessels in children with sickle cell disease. This predisposes them to ischaemic and haemorrhagic infarcts in brain resulting in strokes. TCD (Transcranial Doppler) is a useful radiological tool to screen the children with increased mean blood flow velocities in distal internal carotid artery and proximal middle cerebral artery. This study was aimed to assess the blood flow velocities in left and right middle cerebral arteries of children with sickle cell disease and to compare these velocities with a control group of normal children, matching their sex and age profile.