Sickle cell disease leads to increased risk of intracranial vasculopathy and stroke. Therefore, sensitive radiological indicators of cerebrovascular disease severity are needed to aid in treatment planning. 3T vessel wall imaging MRI studies demonstrated increased basilar artery wall thickness in sickle cell disease patients and inverse relationship between hematocrit and basilar wall thickness likely due to increased blood flow velocities and wall stress. Evaluation of internal carotid artery is difficult possibly due to variable CSF signal suppression in these regions.
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