Abstract #3435
Impaired white matter cerebrovascular reactivity in sickle cell disease is associated with decreased white matter structural integrity
Paula L Croal 1 , Junseok Kim 1 , Jackie Leung 1 , and Andrea Kassner 1,2
1
Physiology & Experimental Medicine, The
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
2
Medical
Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Both cerebrovascular reactivity impairment and white
matter damage are observed in sickle cell disease,
however the underlying vascular contributions are not
understood. We observe a positive association in
children with sickle cell disease between blood
oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) cerebrovascular
reactivity and fractional anisotropy (r2 = 0.997, p =
0.02) in the white matter of the right frontal cortex.
These results may be interpreted such that impaired
cerebrovascular reactivity leads to low-grade ischemic
damage and resulting WM structural degradation in sickle
cell disease. However, further investigation into this
causal relationship is required via longitudinal
studies.
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