PROTON PR SPECTROSCOPY OF THE BASAL GANGLIA IN HEALTHY-CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITH AIDS

PURPOSE: To evaluate proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy in ch ildren with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and to estab lish an age-dependent spectroscopic database of the normal basal gangl ia in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen healthy children and 4 5 children with AIDS underwent both brain MR imaging and single-voxel MR spectroscopy with a long-echo-time point-resolved technique. A larg e part of the region of interest studied at MR spectroscopy included t he basal ganglia. RESULTS: Seven patients with progressive encephalopa thy and eight with static encephalopathy had significantly lower mean N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) ratios than age-matched control subjects (P < .02). In determining the presence of progressive enceph alopathy in children with AIDS, MR spectroscopy appears to be more sen sitive and specific than MR imaging and immunologic testing. Thirty pa tients without encephalopathy had normal NAA/Cr ratios but significant ly lower choline/Cr ratios than age-matched control subjects (P < .02) . CONCLUSION: Proton MR spectroscopy may be a more sensitive diagnosti c technique than MR imaging in childhood AIDS encephalopathy.