Incidence of Stroke and Other Brain Imaging Findings in Adult Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: A Retrospective Study

Background: Vaso-occlusion and hemolytic anemia are the main features of sickle cell disease. Central Nervous system complications of sickle cell disease (SCD) can include silent cerebral infarcts (SCI), hemorrhagic or ischemic strokes, seizures and Moyamoya syndrome. SCI is the most common neurological complications in SCD. SCI patients have abnormal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain with normal neurological examination and no history of stroke. More precisely, Casella et al in the Silent Cerebral Infarct Multi-Center Clinical trial (SIT) defined infarct as MRI signal abnormality that was at least 3 mm in one dimension and that was visible in two planes on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery T2 -weighted images, as determined by agreement of two of the three study neuroradiologists. SCI in children is associated with lower Intelligence Quotient and increased risk of stroke.