HIV infection and stroke.

The landscape of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is changing with the increasing coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Patients are living longer but continually exposed to a virologically suppressed HIV infection. This has resulted in a decrease in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related complications such as opportunistic infections, and an increase in non-AIDS complications such as stroke. In this era, stroke is perhaps the most important neurologic complication of HIV infection. Furthermore, stroke is more of a heterogeneous disease in people living with HIV infection and therefore needs to be approached systematically. Many of the etiologies are treatable. HIV-associated vasculopathy is perhaps the most common etiology in this population and our understanding of this is still evolving. Moreover, the treatment of HIV infection may contribute to an excess risk of stroke and interact with stroke therapies.

De Novo intracerebral aneurysm in a child with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection associated aneurysmal vasculopathy is a rare complication of HIV infection affecting the pediatric and adult population. We present a case of a 7-year-old male child known to have a congenitally acquired HIV infection presenting with a ruptured left distal internal carotid artery fusiform aneurysm that was diagnosed on MRI scans 6 months prior to his presentation. He underwent craniotomy and successful aneurysm reconstruction. He had uncomplicated postoperative course and experienced a good recovery. This case is among the few reported pediatric cases of HIV-associated cerebral arteriopathy to undergo surgery. We also reviewed the relevant literature of this rare condition.

¹8F-FDG PET/CT in HIV-related central nervous system pathology.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of ¹8F-FDG PET/CT in suspected cerebral pathology in HIV-infected individuals. METHODS: ¹8F-FDG PET/CT scans from 29 HIV-infected individuals (29 brain scans, 22 whole-body scans) who presented with neurological symptoms and signs were retrospectively reviewed and compared with subsequent clinical investigations. RESULTS: The majority of patients (n=25) were referred to differentiate infection from malignant causes of cerebral pathology. Ten of the 11 patients with an eventual diagnosis of toxoplasmosis infection were correctly diagnosed by ¹8F-FDG PET/CT showing lesional uptake less than that of normal brain cortex (mean SUVmax 3.5, range 1.9 - 5.8). All five patients with a final diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) were correctly diagnosed by ¹8F-FDG PET/CT showing lesional uptake greater than that of normal brain cortex (mean SUVmax 18.8, range 12.4 - 29.9). Four of the five patients with ¹8F-FDG PET/CT features suggesting a vasculitic process had vasculitis confirmed as the final diagnosis. Three patients showed variable uptake in multiple cerebral lesions (including final diagnoses of tuberculosis and metastases from lung cancer in two patients) and there were four other miscellaneous diagnoses. In 12 patients biopsies were performed at sites guided by PET abnormality (7 brain, 5 lymph nodes) confirming or excluding significant disease in 11. CONCLUSION: ¹8F-FDG PET/CT is particularly useful for differentiating between infection and PCNSL in HIV-infected patients with a cerebral lesion on MRI or CT. ¹8F-FDG PET/CT was also a helpful tool in the diagnostic work-up of patients with other HIV-related cerebral pathology. Additional advantages of ¹8F-FDG PET/CT are the abilities to assess abnormally increased glucose metabolism in the body and to identify potential sites for biopsy.

HIV/AIDS patients with HIV vasculopathy and VZV vasculitis: a case series.

PURPOSE: Stroke is a rising cause of mortality in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) populations. The etiology of stroke remains at the core of the decision-making process to treat and prevent recurrent events. In this population HIV vasculopathy (HIV-V) and varicella zoster virus (VZV) vasculitis are elusive causes of stroke. This study investigated radiological markers that could help identify possible etiological causes. METHODS: A series of nine consecutive patients seen at a large metropolitan hospital who presented with AIDS and stroke with the suspicion of either HIV vasculopathy (HIV-V) or VZV vasculitis (VZV-V) were included. A standardized diagnostic approach was used to for HIV-V and VZV-V. Data on frequencies and typical images are reported. RESULTS: Of the nine patients five had VZV-V and four had HIV-V. Patients with VZV-V were generally younger than those with HIV-V; however, no other significant demographic or cardiovascular differences were found. Of the five patients with VZV-V four had small, deep, subcortical ischemic strokes and only one in this group had a large, cortical, hemispheric stroke but in the HIV-V group three patients had large, cortical hemispheric strokes and only one patient had small, subcortical ischemic strokes. CONCLUSIONS: In this series VZV-V seemed to present more often with deep-seated ischemic infarcts, while HIV-V appeared to be associated with large, hemispheric stroke. It seems plausible that this difference is related to the type of arteries infected by each virus. These findings are preliminary and should be confirmed with better studies.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosis: potential causes of surgical emergencies of the hand.

Compartment Syndrome (CS) is a disease that has 2 etiologies, that of acute events and that of chronic. It occurs when the pressure in a fascia-encased compartment exceeds the profusion pressure in tissue. The end result, when left untreated, is muscle and nerve ischemia that can cause significant morbidity. Nerve paralysis, muscle necrosis and fibrosis and, when occurring in an extremity, loss of the limb are some of the potential outcomes of missed diagnosis. This case series involves 2 cases of CS that where caused by vasculitis with etiologies of human immunodeficiency virus and systemic lupus erythematosis. Autoimmune vasculitis has many systemic and local manifestations, but to our knowledge CS has not been described as one of its sequelae. The following is literature review and presentation of these 2 cases.

Successful reversal of threatening carotid artery occlusion in HIV-associated non-aneurysmal vasculitis.

We report a case of HIV-associated carotid vasculitis, causing cerebral infarction. Immediate corticosteroid treatment was followed by improvement, with radiological documentation of reversal of the vasculitic changes, preventing arterial occlusion. Vasculitis should be considered as a diagnosis in stroke in HIV and steroid treatment considered as a potentially life-saving intervention.

Human immunodeficiency virus arteriopathy of the adult cerebral circulation.

Arteriopathy associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection and clinical acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is well-documented. The pathophysiology of this arteriopathy may vary in different vascular beds. Although arteriopathy of central nervous system (CNS) circulation has been recognized in pediatric patients since the late 1980s, there are no reported cases of CNS arteriopathy in adults. We present the first reported case of adult CNS arteriopathy in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient who succumbed to complications secondary to diffuse aneurysmal disease of the Circle of Willis.

Necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis in advanced HIV infection.

We describe the first case of granulomatous necrotizing vasculitis not restricted to the central nervous system in an HIV-infected patient. No mycobacteria or drugs potentially associated with granuloma formation were involved in this patient, suggesting that the cause of this vasculitis was probably autoimmune. The development of granulomatous vascular inflammation in this patient with less than 200 CD4 cells/microl might have been due to immune overactivation. After starting potent antiretroviral therapy a profound immune deactivation was observed and the vasculitis did not relapse.

Cerebrovascular disease in HIV-infected pediatric patients: neuroimaging findings.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of our study was to report on the prevalence and the neuroradiologic manifestations of cerebrovascular complications in children infected with HIV. We also elucidate the types of vascular involvement, identify their anatomic distribution, and discuss possible causes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 567 patients (age range, 1 month-29 years; median age, 5.47 years) who acquired HIV as children. Of these, 426 patients (75%) were evaluated with neuroimaging studies. We reviewed these studies to identify the cerebrovascular abnormalities and classify them by type, anatomic location, and shape. RESULTS: Eleven children (2.6%) were found to have cerebrovascular lesions. Only one had focal neurologic symptoms at the time of diagnosis. Twenty-six aneurysms were found in seven patients, and 27 infarctions were found in eight patients. In four of the patients with infarctions, fusiform aneurysms of the cerebral arteries were also identified. Most patients had advanced HIV disease. Nine of the 11 patients were infected by a vertical transmission route or during blood transfusion early in the neonatal period. In this group of patients, the diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease was made earlier (mean age at diagnosis, 8.2 years) than in the two patients who were infected later in life (mean age at diagnosis, 14.9 years). CONCLUSION: HIV-infected children have an increased incidence of cerebrovascular disease that is associated with severe immune suppression and with vertically acquired HIV infection or exposure to the virus in the neonatal period. Despite extensive lesions, most children in our study were asymptomatic. Screening with MR imaging should be considered for high-risk children and is advisable when evidence of neurologic symptoms or neurocognitive dysfunction is noted.

Short echo-time proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in regions of severe HIV-related diffuse white matter abnormality on MRI.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether short echo-time proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) could detect mobile lipid resonances attributable to myelin breakdown products in the deep cerebral white matter of patients with AIDS who have severe diffuse/patchy white matter hyperintensity on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Seven patients with AIDS and clinical HIV-associated dementia complex (HADC) and 12 male controls were studied at 1.5T using a single 8 ml voxel, gradient localised, stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) spectroscopy sequence. Spectra were acquired at an echo time of 20 ms with a repetition time of 5000 ms. No spectroscopic peaks were identified at 0.9 ppm and 1.3 ppm (corresponding to lipid resonances) in 6 of the 7 patients with AIDS or in any of the controls. Lipid resonances were identified in 1 patient who had been taking anti-retroviral therapy for 8 weeks. Follow up MRI/H-MRS, performed after a further 14 weeks of anti-retroviral therapy, showed partial resolution of white matter hyperintensity and lipid resonances were not detectable. These data suggest that mobile lipids are only rarely detected by H-MRS in patients with HADC and abnormalities on MRI and that their presence may be transitory.