Digital thermography and vascular involvement in ß-thalassemia intermedia.
Ann Hematol
; 100(10): 2471-2477, 2021 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34235558
ABSTRACT
Beta-thalassemia intermedia (ß-TI) is associated with vascular dysfunction. We used digital thermal monitoring (DTM), a non-invasive tool that evaluates vascular function based on changes in fingertip temperature during and after cuff occlusion on ß-TI patients. Thirty-three patients (18 years and older) were recruited in this study and divided into 3 groups thalassemia, anemic controls, and healthy controls. Exclusion criteria included factors that are known to be associated with vascular damage. Patients underwent DTM and results were extracted as vascular reactivity index (VRI), a measure of how well the circulatory system responds to stimuli that require adjustments of blood flow. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the mean difference in VRI between the 3 groups. A multiple linear regression was also carried out with VRI as the outcome of interest and a function of covariates that were thought to be of clinical relevance to VRI. The frequency, mean VRI ± standard error (SE) for the thalassemic group were (N = 16), mean = 2.243 ± 0.111; for anemic controls (N = 9), mean = 2.374 ± 0.162; and for the controls (N = 8), mean = 2.338 ± 0.092. ANOVA test indicated a non-significant difference in mean VRI between the three groups (P value = 0.731). Multiple linear regression couldn't detect any significant association between VRI and any of the predictors including the groups. Our study did not show a significant difference in VRI between the 3 study groups. Prospective studies of larger sample size are warranted to establish DTM as a possible non-invasive tool used to evaluate vascular function in ß-TI patients.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vascular Diseases
/
Thermography
/
Beta-Thalassemia
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Hematol
Journal subject:
HEMATOLOGIA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Líbano