Abstract
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) (69·2 ± 6·6 vs. 79·5 ± 5·3%, P < 0·001) and trended towards lower quadriceps StO(2) (67·7 ± 9·0 vs. 73·2 ± 7·9%, P = 0·09) . Further studies of tissue oxygenation during exercise in SCA are warranted.