Cerebral oxygen metabolism in adults with sickle cell disease

In sickle cell disease (SCD), oxygen delivery is impaired due to anemia, especially during times of increased metabolic demand, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) must increase to meet changing physiologic needs. But hyperemia limits cerebrovascular reserve (CVR) and ischemic risk prevails despite elevated CBF. The cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO₂) directly reflects oxygen supply and consumption and may therefore be more insightful than flow-based CVR measures for ischemic risk in SCD. We hypothesized that adults with SCD have impaired CMRO₂ at rest and that a vasodilatory challenge with acetazolamide would improve CMRO₂. CMRO₂ was calculated from CBF and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), measured with arterial spin labeling and T₂-prepared tissue relaxation with inversion recovery (T₂-TRIR) MRI. We studied 36 adults with SCD without a clinical history of overt stroke, and nine healthy controls. As expected, CBF was higher in patients with SCD versus controls (mean ± SD: 74 ± 16 versus 46 ± 5 mL/100 g/min, P <.001), resulting in similar oxygen delivery (SCD: 377 ± 67 versus controls: 368 ± 42 μmol O₂/100g/min, P =.69). OEF was lower in patients versus controls (27 ± 4 versus 35 ± 4%, P <.001), resulting in lower CMRO₂ in patients versus controls (102 ± 24 versus 127 ± 20 μmol O₂/100g/min, P =.002). After acetazolamide, CMRO₂ declined further in patients (P <.01) and did not decline significantly in controls (P =.78), indicating that forcing higher CBF worsened oxygen utilization in SCD patients. This lower CMRO₂ could reflect variation between healthy and unhealthy vascular beds in terms of dilatory capacity and resistance whereby dysfunctional vessels become more oxygen-deprived, hence increasing the risk of localized ischemia.