Regional cerebral blood flow in patients with sickle cell disease: study with single photon emission computed tomography.

Objective: Neurological complications have been reported in patients with sickle-cell disease (SCD) using positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT), but not with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The objective of this study was to investigate brain perfusion in the patients with SCD using SPECT after technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO), was administered and compare the findings with those of demography, physical examination, MRI and hematological profile.

Methods: The study involved 21 patients (12 males, 9 females, age at study 8-45 years) who were known to be having SCD for a duration of at least 5 years.