Evaluation of Intracranial Cerebral Blood Flow Velocities in Splenectomised and Non-Splenectomised Patients with β-Thalassemia Intermedia Using Transcranial Doppler Sonography.

BACKGROUND A high incidence of clinically-silent cerebral ischemic events has been reported in splenectomised patients with β-thalassemia intermedia (βTI). These could be due to cerebral large-vessel disease. Based on the example of sickle cell disease, we applied transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) to evaluate cerebral vessels velocity as a possible indicator of cerebral vasculopathy. PATIENTS AND METHODS In our study, we included 17 splenectomised and 13 non-splenectomised (control group) patients with βTI. Non-imaging TCD was performed and the time-averaged mean velocity (TAMV) values of cerebral arteries were measured. RESULTS There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups concerning age, gender, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, nor in the TAMV values for all examined vessels (p>0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in platelet count (PLT) (p<0.01) that was higher in splenectomised patients. CONCLUSION Our results do not support the presence of large-vessel vasculopathy in splenectomised βTI patients and agree with recent studies reporting that cerebral ischemic events in these patients might be due to microangiopathy or venous thromboembolism.