Dataset Information

Silent cerebral infarcts in patients with sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs) are the most common neurological complication in children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). In this systematic review, we provide an overview of studies that have detected SCIs in patients with SCD by cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We focus on the frequency of SCIs, the risk factors involved in their development and their clinical consequences.

Methods

The databases of Embase, MEDLINE ALL via Ovid, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Trials via Wiley and Google Scholar were searched from inception to June 1, 2019.

Results

The search yielded 651 results of which 69 studies met the eligibility criteria. The prevalence of SCIs in patients with SCD ranges from 5.6 to 80.6% with most studies reported in the 20 to 50% range. The pooled prevalence of SCIs in HbSS and HbS?⁰ SCD patients is 29.5%. SCIs occur more often in patients with the HbSS and HbS?⁰ genotype in comparison with other SCD genotypes, as SCIs are found in 9.2% of HbSC and HbS?⁺ patients. Control subjects showed a mean pooled prevalence of SCIs of 9.8%. Data from included studies showed a statistically significant association between increasing mean age of the study population and mean SCI prevalence. Thirty-three studies examined the risk factors for SCIs. The majority of the risk factors show no clear association with prevalence, since more or less equal numbers of studies give evidence for and against the causal association.

Conclusions

This systematic review and meta-analysis shows SCIs are common in patients with SCD. No clear risk factors for their development were identified. Larger, prospective and controlled clinical, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies are needed to understand how SCD and SCIs affect cognition.

SUBMITTER: Houwing ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7754589 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Silent cerebral infarcts in patients with sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Houwing Maite E ME Grohssteiner Rowena L RL Dremmen Marjolein H G MHG Atiq Ferdows F Bramer Wichor M WM de Pagter Anne P J APJ Zwaan C Michel CM White Tonya J H TJH Vernooij Meike W MW Cnossen Marjon H MH

BMC medicine 20201222 1

<h4>Background and purpose</h4>Silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs) are the most common neurological complication in children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). In this systematic review, we provide an overview of studies that have detected SCIs in patients with SCD by cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We focus on the frequency of SCIs, the risk factors involved in their development and their clinical consequences.<h4>Methods</h4>The databases of Embase, MEDLINE ALL via Ovid, Web of ...[more]

PMID: 33349253

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundSilent cerebral infarcts are the most common neurologic injury in children with sickle cell anemia and are associated with the recurrence of an infarct (stroke or silent cerebral infarct). We tested the hypothesis that the incidence of the recurrence of an infarct would be lower among children who underwent regular blood-transfusion therapy than among those who received standard care.MethodsIn this randomized, single-blind clinical trial, we randomly assigned children with sickle cell anemia to receive regular blood transfusions (transfusion group) or standard care (observation group). Participants were between 5 and 15 years of age, with no history of stroke and with one or more silent cerebral infarcts on magnetic resonance imaging and a neurologic examination showing no abnormalities corresponding to these lesions. The primary end point was the recurrence of an infarct, defined as a stroke or a new or enlarged silent cerebral infarct.ResultsA total of 196 children (mean age, 10 years) were randomly assigned to the observation or transfusion group and were followed for a median of 3 years. In the transfusion group, 6 of 99 children (6%) had an end-point event (1 had a stroke, and 5 had new or enlarged silent cerebral infarcts). In the observation group, 14 of 97 children (14%) had an end-point event (7 had strokes, and 7 had new or enlarged silent cerebral infarcts). The incidence of the primary end point in the transfusion and observation groups was 2.0 and 4.8 events, respectively, per 100 years at risk, corresponding to an incidence rate ratio of 0.41 (95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 0.99; P=0.04).ConclusionsRegular blood-transfusion therapy significantly reduced the incidence of the recurrence of cerebral infarct in children with sickle cell anemia. (Funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and others; Silent Cerebral Infarct Multi-Center Clinical Trial ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00072761, and Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN52713285.).

Project description:Silent cerebral infarction (SCI) is the most commonly reported radiological abnormality in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and is associated with future clinical stroke risk. To date, there have been few histological and quantitative MRI studies of SCI and multiple radiological definitions exist. As a result, the tissue characteristics and composition of SCI remain elusive. The objective of this work was therefore to investigate the composition of segmented SCI lesions using quantitative MRI for R 2* and quantitative magnetic susceptibility mapping (QSM). 211 SCI lesions were segmented from 32 participants with SCA and 6 controls. SCI were segmented according to two definitions (FLAIR+/-T1w-based threshold) using a semi-automated pipeline. Magnetic susceptibility (χ) and R 2* maps were calculated from a multi-echo gradient echo sequence and mean SCI values were compared to an equivalent region of interest in normal appearing white matter (NAWM). SCI χ and R 2* were investigated as a function of SCI definition, patient demographics, anatomical location, and cognition. Compared to NAWM, SCI were significantly less diamagnetic (χ = -0.0067 ppm vs. -0.0153 ppm, p < 0.001) and had significantly lower R 2* (16.7 s-1 vs. 19.2 s-1, p < 0.001). SCI definition had a significant effect on the mean SCI χ and R 2* , with lesions becoming significantly less diamagnetic and having significantly lower R 2* after the application of a more stringent T1w-based threshold. SCI-NAWM R 2* decrease was significantly greater in patients with SCA compared with controls (-2.84 s-1 vs. -0.64 s-1, p < 0.0001). No significant association was observed between mean SCI-NAWM χ or R2* differences and subject age, lesion anatomical location, or cognition. The increased χ and decreased R 2* in SCI relative to NAWM observed in both patients and controls is indicative of lower myelin or increased water content within the segmented lesions. The significant SCI-NAWM R 2* differences observed between SCI in patients with SCA and controls suggests there may be differences in tissue composition relative to NAWM in SCI in the two populations. Quantitative MRI techniques such as QSM and R 2* mapping can be used to enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology and composition of SCI in patients with SCA as well as controls.

Dataset Information

Silent cerebral infarcts in patients with sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Silent cerebral infarcts in patients with sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets