Affiliations: [a] Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| [b] Department of Ophthalmology, Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
| [c] Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL USA | [d]
Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
| [e] Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Mahnaz Shahidi, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Tel.: +1 312 413 7364; Fax: +1 312 413 7366; E-mail: mahnshah@uic.edu.
Abstract: Painful vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is the clinical hallmark of sickle cell disease (SCD). Microcirculatory hemodynamic changes following painful VOC may be indicative of future development of VOC events in subjects with SCD. The purpose of the present study was to determine alterations in conjunctival microvascular hemodynamics during non-crisis state in SCD subjects with a history of VOC. Conjunctival microcirculation imaging was performed to measure conjunctival diameter (D) and axial blood velocity (V) in 10 control and 30 SCD subjects. SCD subjects were categorized into two groups based on their history of VOC within a 2-year period before imaging (with or without VOC-H) and also based on whether there was progression in the rate of VOCs during a 2-year period following imaging as compared to before imaging (with or without VOC-P). Conjunctival V was significantly higher in SCD subjects with VOC-H than in both control subjects and SCD subjects without VOC-H (P≤0.03). Conjunctival V was also significantly higher in SCD subjects with VOC-P compared with control subjects and SCD subjects without VOC-P (P≤0.03). Assessment of the conjunctival microcirculation may be useful for understanding hemodynamic changes that lead to VOC events in SCD subjects.
