Comparative assessment of renal volume and doppler velocimetric indices among subjects with sickle cell disease and controls in Benin, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a hereditary blood disorder caused by an abnormality in haemoglobin can be complicated by  impairment of renal function. Renal Doppler ultrasound has been found to be an effective method of evaluating reno-vascular events  prior to abnormal laboratory renal function tests.

Aim and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the renal volume (RV), intra-renal resistive and pulsatility indices (RI, PI)  among sickle cell patients and controls in UBTH, Benin City using ultrasonography.

Materials and Method: This was a cross-sectional comparative study of renal volume, intra-renal resistive and pulsatility indices among  50 sickle cell disease patients attending sickle cell clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and equal number of “Age and Sex”  matched controls. The study was conducted using a 2-8MHz curvilinear transducer of a SONOACE X6 (Medison Inc., Korea 2010) Doppler  ultrasound machine.

Data analysis: Collated data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk.  N.Y., USA)

Results: The mean age for the HbSS subjects was 22.4±3.7years while that of the control group was 23.3 ±4.5 years. The left RV  was higher than the right RV in HbSS and HbAA: 169.3±40.2 cm³ versus 162.2±40.3 cm³ and 153.9±30.9cm³ versus 134.7±26.4 cm³  respectively. The mean RV, RI and PI was significantly higher in HbSS than controls (RV: 165.8±39.8cm versus 122.9±13.4 cm³ ; p = 0.0001,  RI: 0.74±0.02 versus 0.61±0.04; p= 0.0001, PI: 1.43±0.06 cm³ versus 0.90±0.05; p = 0.0001).

Conclusion: Renal volume, RI and PI were  statistically significantly higher in HbSS patients than controls.