SERIAL MRI OF THE BRAIN IN ASYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS INFECTED WITH HIV - RESULTS FROM THE UCMSM MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL NEUROLOGY COHORT/

Seventy-six homosexual or bisexual men underwent two cranial MRI studi es at a mean interval of 13 months; 23 were HIV seronegative, 41 serop ositive but asymptomatic (Center for Disease Control (CDC) groups II/I II), and 12 had AIDS related complex (ARC)/AIDS (CDC group IV). Agreem ent between two neuroradiologists was rated as very good far assessmen t of enlargement of ventricles and good for widening of cerebral sulci and the presence of focal lesions. For assessment of serial studies, the agreement was moderate. The prevalence of cerebral, atrophy and fo cal white matter lesions was no higher in the asymptomatic patients (C DC group II/III) than in appropriate seronegative controls. Some patie nts with ARC/AIDS showed evidence of developing cerebral atrophy durin g the study period when serial scans were compared. The imaging eviden ce supports the other data obtained from this cohort, which suggest th at no significant CNS involvement occurs in HIV infection before the d evelopment of ARC/AIDS.