Quantification of whole-brain oxygenation extraction fraction and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption in adults with sickle cell anemia using individual T2 -based oxygenation calibrations.

Our results confirm that sickle blood T2 values not only depend on the hematocrit and oxygenation values, but also on other hematological factors. The individual T2 calibrations minimized the effect of heterogeneity of sickle blood between different SCA populations and improved the accuracy of T2 -based oximetry. The measured oxygen extraction fraction and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen of this group of SCA participants were found to not differ significantly from those of healthy individuals.