Cardiorespiratory Sleep Laboratory

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Suvimol (Ming) Sangkatumvong

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Project Title: Development of noninvasive methods to predict vaso-occlusive crises in sickle-cell anemia

Research Statement:

Vaso-occlusive crises are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell anemia patients. These episodes are known to be associated with hypoxia. However there is no available technique that can reliably distinguish the cause or predict the occurrence of these events. We hypothesized that autonomic nervous system reactivity in sickle cell patients is different from normal, and that this may be used as a possible means of predicting future crises. Our initial results from hypoxia experiments with five tidal breaths of 100% N2 suggest that there are some differences in autonomic responses to hypoxia between control subjects and sickle-cell anemia patients.

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