Cerebral and skeletal muscle tissue oxygenation during exercise challenge in children and young adults with sickle cell anaemia

We used near-infrared spectroscopy to examine tissue oxygenation (StO(2)) during exercise in 17 children and young adults with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) and 13 controls. Patients had lower cerebral StO(2) at all exercise stages and demonstrated significantly greater decreases in cerebral StO(2) later during exercise. Quadriceps StO(2) increased similarly in patients and controls during early exercise, but decreases from baseline were greater in patients during later exercise. At similar workloads, patients demonstrated lower cerebral StO(2) (69 center dot 2 +/- 6 center dot 6 vs. 79 center dot 5 +/- 5 center dot 3%, P < 0 center dot 001) and trended towards lower quadriceps StO(2) (67 center dot 7 +/- 9 center dot 0 vs. 73 center dot 2 +/- 7 center dot 9%, P = 0 center dot 09). Further studies of tissue oxygenation during exercise in SCA are warranted.

Automated summary

The study showed that patients with sickle cell anaemia had lower cerebral StO(2) during exercise and also demonstrated differences in quadriceps StO(2) compared to controls. Further research on tissue oxygenation during exercise in sickle cell anaemia patients is warranted to better understand the impact of the disease on oxygenation levels.