Sickle Cell Disease Painful Crisis and Steady State Differentiation by Proton Magnetic Resonance

Abstract

The delay time of the Hb S polymerization process was investigated in 63 patients with sickle cell disease during steady state and 10 during painful crisis starting from spin–spin proton magnetic resonance (PMR) time behavior measured at 36°C and during spontaneous deoxygenation. We found a significant decrease of delay time as a result of the crisis (36 ± 10%) and two well-differentiated ranges of values for each state: 273–354 min for steady state and 166–229 min for crisis with an uncertainty region of 15%. It is possible to use PMR as an objective and quantitative method in order to differentiate both clinical conditions of the sickle cell patient, but a more clear differentiation can be established comparing the delay time (td) value of one patient during crisis with his own td value during steady state.

Keywords:

• Sickle cell anemia
• Polymerization
• Proton magnetic resonance (PMR)
• Delay time (td)
• Spin–spin relaxation time