{"doi":"10.1002/pbc.31861","title":"Optimizing Transcranial Doppler Screening for Stroke Prevention in Young African Children With Sickle Cell Disease","abstract":"BACKGROUND: The greatest burden of sickle cell disease (SCD) globally occurs in sub-Saharan Africa, where significant morbidity occurs secondary to SCD-induced vasculopathy and stroke. Transcranial doppler (TCD) ultrasound grades the severity of vasculopathy, with disease modifying therapy resulting in stroke risk reduction in high-risk children. The feasibility and utility of TCD screening in young children with SCD remains understudied. PROCEDURE: We performed a retrospective review of TCD examination results in children ≤24 months with SCD in one of six centers in Africa. Using the time-averaged maximum of the mean flow velocity, values <170 cm/s were considered to be low risk for stroke, 171-199 cm/s conditional risk, and >200 cm/s high risk. RESULTS: A total of 115 children were screened, with five (4.3%) unable to complete the TCD due to agitation. A total of 110 children with a mean age of 15 ± 5 months were included. Low risk studies were identified in 95 (86.4%) and conditional risk in 15 (13.6%). No patient had a high risk study. Those with conditional risk examinations were not more anemic than those with low risk studies (p = 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: TCD screening of young children with SCD is feasible, with low technical failure rates. Many children in our cohort had a conditional risk study, suggesting cerebral vasculopathy begins at a young age in some African children. Future large cohort studies should be undertaken to determine the incidence of conditional or high risk studies in African children ≤2 years with SCD to inform future guideline development for TCD screening.","journal":"Pediatric Blood & Cancer","year":2025,"id":569026,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9584,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1093008,"name":"Peter Moons","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093009,"name":"Taty Tshimanga","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1474063,"name":"Florette Yumsa Mangwangu","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093000,"name":"Ludovic Mayindombe","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1092997,"name":"Robert Tandjeka Ekandji","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1092998,"name":"Jean Pongo Mbaka","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1092996,"name":"Davin Ambitapio Musungufu","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":922686,"name":"Suzanna Mwanza","orcid":"0000-0001-8080-7215","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093002,"name":"Clement Lupumpaula","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093003,"name":"Janet Simanguwa Chilima","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093005,"name":"Peter Kabemba","orcid":null,"position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093006,"name":"Lisa Nkole Kafula","orcid":null,"position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":515361,"name":"Catherine Chunda‐Liyoka","orcid":"0000-0003-2393-4933","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":908612,"name":"Tusekile Phiri","orcid":null,"position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":908613,"name":"Sylvester June","orcid":null,"position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1474064,"name":"M. Co","orcid":null,"position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1093007,"name":"George Chagaluka","orcid":null,"position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":770013,"name":"Nicole O’Brien","orcid":null,"position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":922685,"name":"Derby Tembo","orcid":"0000-0001-5220-5735","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":26,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:56:55.795846Z","pmid":"40553485","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}