Adam M. Winchell1,
2, Brian Taylor1, Paul Grundlehner1, Ralf B.
Loeffler1, Jane Hankins3, Winfred Wang3,
Kathleen Helton1, Claudia M. Hillenbrand1
1Radiological
Sciences, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States; 2Biomedical
Engineering, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States; 3Hematology,
St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States
One of the most devastating complications in children with sickle cell disease is stroke. A hessian-based vessel segmentation algorithm was used on SWI to quantify the venous contrast in patients and normal controls. The conspicuity of venous contrast in sickle cell disease is qualitatively less than in controls and shows a significant quantitative decrease. Quantitative measures of venous contrast inversely correlated with basilar tortuosity.