Background Sickle cell disease is hematological disease that affect the endothelial function. The
hemoglobinopathy in this disease triggers erythrocyte polymerization and the sickling process leads
to vascular occlusion, tissue hypoxia and subsequent reperfusion injury, thus inducing inflammation
and endothelial injury.
Objective To assess the value of brachial artery diameter measurement as a predictor of the state of
endothelium in sickled individuals.
Methods Thirty patients with sickle cell disease (15 females and 15 males) with a mean age of (27.0±8.9 yr)
and 30 healthy controls (18 females and 12 males) with a mean age of (29.7±9.1 yr) participated in
the study. Assessment of endothelial function done by studying physiological parameters, which
included flow-mediated dilatation and endothelial-independent dilatation of the brachial artery
depending on the measurement of the diameter of the blood vessel.
Results Endothelial independent dilatation was significantly lower in sickle cell disease patients
(21.71±6.96) in comparison with that of the control group (26.81±6.31) despite the findings that
both base line brachial artery diameter and intima media thickness were not significantly different
between both groups.
Conclusion Brachial artery diameter assessment is a useful noninvasive predictor of endothelial dysfunction in
patients with sickle cell disease. The reproducibility of the test in addition to its low cost and being
free of biological hazards makes it optimum for assessing the state of the endothelium and may be
used to monitor the response to treatment.
Keywords Sickle cell disease, flow-mediated dilatation, endothelial-independent dilatation, brachial artery
diameter.
DOI: 10.22578/IJMS.14.4.8
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Iraqi JMS 2016; Vol. 14(4)DEC2016
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