results of transcranial doppler in children with sickle cell disease: correlation between the time-averaged mean of maximum velocity and some hematological characteristics

abstract background: transcranial doppler ultrasonography results have not been previously studied in among iranian sickle cell anemia patients. the present study was performed to evaluate the pattern of intracranial flow velocities among iranian children with sickle cell anemia and the hematological parameters that can affect the time-averaged mean of maximum velocity in major intracranial arteries. materials and methods: a total of 34 patients with sickle cell anemia aged 2-16 years (mean: 9.5 ±4.1 years) were enrolled in this cross sectional study. a special pediatric doppler transducer was used to study intracranial vessels such as left and right middle cerebral arteries and the time-averaged mean maximum velocity was determined for major intracranial arteries on each side. the results of transcranial doppler were studied according to the stroke prevention trial in sickle cell anemia criteria. results: in total a relatively high transcranial doppler value was found in 9 patients (26.4%) on either right or left side. out of these 5 patients (14.7%) were in low risk zone (140-169 cm/sec), 3 patients (8.8%) in conditional zone (170 to 200 cm/sec), and one patient (2.9%) in high risk zone (>200cm/sec). time averaged mean of maximum velocity on the right side and the left side had inversely significant correlation with hb f (p=0.03) and hb s (p=0.02). conclusion: transcranial doppler parameters in patients with sickle cell anemia in our study indicated about one forth of patients to have degrees of increased intracranial flow velocity. in contrast to most other studies the cerebral blood flow velocities among our patients were not significantly correlated with most haematological parameters except for hb f and hb s. key words: sickle cell anemia, transcranial, doppler, children, iran.