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Severe anemia is associated with ischemic changes in the retina and brain. Whereas these effects of anemia are occasionally apparent by history and physical examination, more subtle tissue injury is often subclinical and escapes detection. The use of sensitive imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) might improve the recognition of these events.
To assess the frequency of acute silent cerebral ischemic events (ASCIE) during acute anemia, pediatricians performed DWI in 22 children with sickle cell disease (SCD) and 30 children with non-SCD anemia. The median hemoglobin concentration in the two groups was 4 g/dL.
ASCIE was identified in nonsignificantly more SCD patients than non-SCD patients …