Cardiac Fibrosis in Sickle Cell Anemia Using MRI T1 Cardiac Mapping

Abstract

iffuse myocardial fibrosis is a common and novel mechanism of heart disease in sickle cell anemia (SCA) that is strongly associated with diastolic dysfunction. The numerous complications of fibrosis make an urgent need for an easy and accurate method to identify and quantify myocardial fibrosis helps to guide therapies, contributes to understanding the mechanisms responsible for fibrosis initiation, progression, and resolution, and, ultimately, allows for the design of new antifibrotic treatments. Our study aimed to evaluate cardiac fibrosis in sickle cell disease patients using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging via T1 mapping with administration of a contrast and measure T1 pre and post contrast and then calculate ECV values. This study was conducted on twenty child patients from pediatric clinic in Ain Shams University hospital in cooperation with radiology department between March 2019 to August 2019. Their ages ranged from 7 to 29 years, with a mean age of 15.35 ± 5.16 years; they were 11 (55.0%) males and 9 (45.0%) females. The mean weight was 43.45±16.04 kg, ranging from 21to 80 kg, and the mean height was 147.35 ±14.31cm range from 125 to 170 cm.