title: White matter damage in asymptomatic patients with sickle cell anemia: screening with diffusion tensor imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ischemic injury to the brain is a common complication of SCA. To better understand the neurologic impact of SCA, TBSS were applied to DTI data to investigate white matter injuries in pediatric patients with SCA.
  
  
  METHODS
  TBSS comparisons of a range of anisotropy and diffusion measures were carried out between age- and background-matched population groups: patients with SCA with no visible lesions, patients with SCA with mild gliosis, and normal controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TBSS analysis revealed that both SCA populations exhibited reduced anisotropy and increased diffusivity compared with normal controls in multiple brain regions, including the corpus callosum and centrum semiovale. Furthermore, the results suggest that the severity of SCA is positively correlated with the white matter changes in the corpus callosum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study demonstrates that TBSS is a viable technique in detecting subtle white matter damage in patients with SCA whose conventional anatomic MR imaging scans show no, or minimal, abnormalities and has the potential to evaluate the neurologic impact of the treatment of SCA.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Radiology, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA 30342, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huamani
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Bearden
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*