Rajakumar Nagarajan1, April Thames2, M.Albert Thomas1, Manoj K. Sarma1, Tim Arentsen3, Sapna Patel2, Elyse Singer4, Charles H. Hinkin2
1Radiological Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 2UCLA Department of Psychiatry; 3West Los Angeles VA; 4UCLA Department of Neurology
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can damage not only the liver but also the brain. HCV infection is more serious in persons with co-infection human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Magnetic resonance spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) enables the noninvasive measurement of biochemical information in vivo. We have evaluated the two-dimensional (2D) MRSI using a 3T MRI/MRS scanner and the LC model quantitation of metabolites. Our pilot findings demonstrate significantly decreased N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and increased choline in the HCV patients and decreased glutamate-glutamine (Glx) in the co-infected patients compared to healthy controls.