Abstract #1636

Evidence for reduced oxygen extraction efficiency in sickle cell anemia patients with cerebral capillary shunting

Meher Juttukonda^1,2, Spencer Waddle³, Larry Davis³, Chelsea Lee⁴, Niral Patel⁴, Sumit Pruthi³, Adetola Kassim⁵, Manus Donahue³, and Lori Jordan⁴

¹Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ²Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ³Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States, ⁴Pediatrics-Division of Pediatric Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States, ⁵Medicine-Division of Hematology/Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, United States

Venous hyperintense signal in arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI has been associated with abnormal tissue-capillary water exchange in adults with sickle cell anemia (SCA). We tested the hypothesis that such hyperintense signal is associated with reduced oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) in adults with SCA. Higher categorical scores of shunting were associated with lower OEF in SCA participants with silent infarcts and/or white matter lesions but not in participants without lesions. These findings indicate that venous hyperintense signal in ASL images may reflect impaired abilities of blood to subserve oxygen and may contribute to lesion development in SCA patients.

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