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Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Analysis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published on: July 28, 2013
Frontostriatal fiber bundle compromise in HIV infection without dementia
Adolf Pfefferbaum1, Margaret J Rosenbloom, Torsten Rohlfing
1Neuroscience Program, SRI International, San Jose, California, USA.
AIDS (London, England)
|September 5, 2009
Summary
Even nondemented individuals with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection show white matter tract damage. This damage, particularly axonal injury, affects association and commissural tracts and can worsen with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Neurology
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is crucial for assessing white matter integrity.
- HIV infection can impact the central nervous system even in non-demented individuals.
- Understanding white matter tract involvement in HIV is key to managing neurological complications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate white matter tract alterations in nondemented HIV-infected individuals using DTI.
- To differentiate between association, projection, and commissural tracts affected by HIV.
- To map the regional distribution of white matter damage and sparing in HIV.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative DTI analysis of fractional anisotropy and diffusivity (longitudinal and transverse).
- Assessment of 11 association/projection and 6 commissural white matter tracts.
- Comparison between 42 HIV-infected individuals and 88 healthy controls.
Main Results:
- HIV-infected individuals exhibited higher diffusivity, particularly longitudinal diffusivity (axonal injury), in posterior corpus callosum, internal/external capsules, and superior cingulate bundles.
- Axonal compromise was prominent in posterior callosal sectors, fornix, and superior cingulate bundle in HIV with AIDS.
- Myelin compromise (transverse diffusivity) was noted in unmedicated patients in occipital forceps, inferior cingulate bundle, and superior longitudinal fasciculus.
Conclusions:
- Nondemented HIV patients demonstrate neuroradiological evidence of white matter tract damage.
- Association and commissural tracts are particularly vulnerable.
- Damage may be exacerbated by AIDS and potentially reduced by Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART).
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