TUESDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- In children with sickle cell disease, routine screening with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) -- which identifies patients who can be preventively treated with blood transfusions -- may significantly reduce the risk of stroke, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology held Dec. 6 to 9 in San Francisco.
Janet L. Kwiatkowski, M.D., of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues compared stroke rates in 475 children who were treated during the eight years before the hospital adopted routine TCD screening, and 530 children who were treated during the eight years after the adoption of routine screening.
Compared to the post-TCD group, the researchers found that the pre-TCD group had significantly higher number of overt strokes (21 versus two) but a lower number of other neurological events (three versus six). They found that the incidence of overt stroke per 100 patient-years was significantly higher in the pre-TC group (0.67 versus 0.06).
"The study confirmed that a program of TCD screening combined with regular transfusion therapy for children found to be at high risk of stroke is effective in preventing strokes," Kwiatkowski said in a statement.
Abstract #714
