NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION AND NEUROIMAGING ABNROMALITIES IN SCD

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。本研究的目的是确定成人镰状细胞病患者的记忆和注意力问题的程度。没有经历过中风或其他脑损伤的成年人将被要求加入这项研究。该研究还将评估这些事件或情况与异常MRI之间的联系。这些发现将与具有相似背景的健康人进行比较。对于一些参与者，测试将显示记忆力和注意力问题的证据，这可能是由大多数镰状细胞病患者中发生的贫血引起的。在一些非镰状细胞患者中，纠正性贫血与更好的记忆力和注意力有关。研究的第二部分将包括对一部分受试者进行为期6个月的贫血治疗，这些受试者已经完成了神经心理学测试和核磁共振成像，以评估输血对记忆和注意力的影响。第二阶段是一项随机对照临床试验。该研究的治疗组患者将每月接受6次输血，作为改善记忆力的潜在治疗方法。非干预组患者不接受输血治疗。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The purpose of this research study is to determine the extent of memory and attention problems in adults with sickle cell disease. Adults who have not experienced a stroke or other brain damage will be asked to join the study. The study will also evaluate the link between these events or conditions and abnormal MRI. These findings will be compared to healthy people with similar backgrounds. For some participants, testing will show evidence of problems with memory and attention, potentially caused by the anemia that occurs among most patients with sickle cell disease. Correcting anemia has been linked in some non-sickle cell patients with better memory and attention. A second part of the study will involve treating anemia for six months in a subset of subjects who have completed the neuropsychological testing and MRI to assess the effect of trnasfusion on memory and attention. This second study phase phase is a randomized controlled clinical trial. Patients in the treatment arm of the study will receive six monthly transfusions as a potential treatment to improve memory. Patients in the non-intervention group will receive no transfusion therapy.