Transfusions reduce risk of stroke
Blood transfusions reduced the number of first-time strokes in children by 70% in a study called the Stroke Prevention Trial in Sickle Cell Anemia. The results were so significant, the trial was ended 16 months ahead of schedule to announce them. An immediate alert was sent to doctors and hospitals and was posted on the Internet, says Claude Lenfant, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, MD.
In the study of 130 children with sickle cell anemia, half got blood transfusions every three to four weeks, while half got standard care. Children at high risk for stroke were identified by an ultrasound technique known as transcranial Doppler screening (TCD), which measures the speed of blood flow to the brain. Because researchers demonstrated that TCD can identify children at risk for stroke, doctors have the ability to treat them before the problem can injure the brain, says lead researcher Robert Adams, MD, of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
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