Novelli Enrico M, Elizabeth Sarles C, Jay Aizenstein Howard, Ibrahim Tamer S, Butters Meryl A, Connelly Ritter Anne, Erickson Kirk I, Rosano Caterina
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Vascular Medicine Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Psychiatry Res. 2015 Jul 30;233(1):18-22. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.04.005. Epub 2015 Apr 25.
Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is a hereditary hemoglobinopathy characterised by extensive vascular dysfunction that stems from inflammation, thrombosis and occlusion of post-capillary venules. Cognitive impairment is a neurological complication of SCA whose pathogenesis is unknown. We hypothesised that cerebral venular abnormalities are linked to cognitive impairment in SCA. Thus, we employed 7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the association between venular density and cognitive function in homozygous SCA. We quantified the density of total, long, and short venules in pre-defined regions of interest between the frontal and occipital cornu on each hemisphere. Cognitive function was assessed using the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test - Revised (HVLT-R) test of learning and memory. Patients (n=11) were compared with race, age and gender-equated controls (n=7). Compared to controls, patients had an overall venular rarefaction, with significantly lower density of long venules and greater density of short venules which was inversely related to HVLT-R performance and haemoglobin. To our knowledge, this is the first 7T MRI study in SCA and first report of associations between cerebral venular patterns and cognitive performance and haemoglobin. Future studies should examine whether these novel neuroimaging markers predict cognitive impairment longitudinally and are mechanistically linked to severity of anaemia.
镰状细胞贫血(SCA)是一种遗传性血红蛋白病,其特征是广泛的血管功能障碍,源于炎症、血栓形成和毛细血管后微静脉阻塞。认知障碍是SCA的一种神经并发症,其发病机制尚不清楚。我们假设脑微静脉异常与SCA中的认知障碍有关。因此,我们采用7T磁共振成像(MRI)来检查纯合子SCA中微静脉密度与认知功能之间的关联。我们在每个半球额叶和枕叶角之间的预定义感兴趣区域量化了总微静脉、长微静脉和短微静脉的密度。使用霍普金斯言语学习测试修订版(HVLT-R)学习和记忆测试评估认知功能。将患者(n=11)与种族、年龄和性别匹配的对照组(n=7)进行比较。与对照组相比,患者总体上存在微静脉稀疏,长微静脉密度显著降低,短微静脉密度增加,这与HVLT-R表现和血红蛋白呈负相关。据我们所知,这是SCA的第一项7T MRI研究,也是关于脑微静脉模式与认知表现和血红蛋白之间关联的首次报告。未来的研究应检查这些新的神经影像学标志物是否能纵向预测认知障碍,以及是否在机制上与贫血严重程度相关。