Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography and neurocognitive functioning in children with sickle cell disease.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the relationship between cerebral blood flow velocity, measured by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonography, and neurocognitive functioning.


METHODS
Participants were 60 children who had sickle cell disease (HbSS) and had no documented history of stroke. Children were classified according to Stroke Prevention Trial in Sickle Cell Anemia criteria (normal, conditional, and abnormal), and their performance was compared on measures of intellectual abilities, academic achievement, sustained attention/concentration, executive function, and parent and teacher ratings of executive function.


RESULTS
Children with abnormal TCD values performed more poorly than children with conditional TCD values on measures of verbal intelligence and executive function. Children with conditional TCD values performed more poorly than children with normal TCD values on measures of sustained attention/concentration and executive function. TCD values also were a significant predictor of auditory working memory in exploratory analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the hypothesis that neurocognitive functions subserved by the frontal systems (eg, sustained attention/concentration and executive function) seem to be the most useful indices of progressive cerebrovasculopathy in children with HbSS disease.
Kral
Mary C
MC
Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA. kralm@musc.edu
Brown
Ronald T
RT
Nietert
Paul J
PJ
Abboud
Miguel R
MR
Jackson
Sherron M
SM
Hynd
George W
GW
D000293:Adolescent; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial