Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy on Brain Gray Matter Volumes in AIDS Patients

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have documented that there were structural abnormalities in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients. Although the long-term survival rate of AIDS patients can be improved by the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), little is known about the effect of cART on brain structural alterations in AIDS patients. In this study, three-dimensional high-resolution brain structure MRI and voxel-based morphometric methods were used to explore the effects of cART on brain gray matter volume in AIDS patients. The results indicate that cART may effectively mitigate the occurrence of abnormal brain structure in AIDS patients, emphasizing the importance of early initiation of cART.

Keywords

• magnetic resonance imaging (mri)
• aids
• combined antiretroviral therapy (cart)
• gray matter volume