Que tál amigos?
Welcome to Week 3 in Costa Rica.
I started my internship at Hospital Nacional de Niños with Dr. Bogantes. During my few days of shadowing, I have learned so much about pediatric neurology but I will use this post to explain one of the things I learned.
Patients with sickle cell anemia have red blood cells that are shaped like a crescent moon instead of the normal round shape. Due to their abnormal shape, sickle cells can cause narrowing of the arteries. In the brain, there is a network of vessels called the Willis circle which circulates blood in the brain.
Willis Circle in the brain
To detect narrowing of arteries in pediatric patients with sickle cell anemia, Dr. Bogantes utilized transcranial doppler sonography. This simple in-clinic procedure utilizes ultrasound to observe the blood velocity in the arteries in the Willis Circle. According to basic physics, when the cross-sectional area of the vessel decreases, the flow rate will be faster. The threshold blood velocity is 200cm/seconds which indicated that the patient’s arteries are too narrow and they could be at risk for stroke since the artery could easily be blocked.
Relationship between blood velocity and area
Cool, right?! Well, I hope you think it’s cool. To write down my observations and do more research about the clinical conditions, I found myself at the University of Costa Rica’s (UCR) wonderful libraries. It has been really interesting to observe Costa Rican students and be on UCR campus. While I was there, I saw a really beautiful monstera plant. It is so much fun to explore Costa Rica this way!
Monstera Plant
Pura Vida and Adios,
Aiman 🙂