Neuroimaging of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders

A significant increase in the incidence of cognitive impairment in HIV/AIDS patients has been continuously observed. Consequently, three classification categories of cognitive impairment have been proposed: asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI) and mild neurocognitive disorder (MND), that correspond to the mild and intermediate forms, and HIV-associated dementia (HAD) for the most severe cases. HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) is a broad term that encompasses these three categories. Moreover, the application of neuroimaging methods has led to a major breakthrough in understanding of the neurological changes in HIV, providing greater reliability in the exclusion of associated diseases and allowing earlier diagnosis. Therefore, abnormalities and/or specific neuroimaging elements may soon be incorporated into the HAND classification criteria, which will be of great value in the management of these diseases, including in the optimization of high CNS penetration antiretroviral regimens.