Manoj Kumar Sarma1, April Thames2, Rajakumar Nagarajan1, Sarabeth Lawrence3, Natalie Arbid3, M. Albert Thomas1, Charles H. Hinkin2, 3
1Radiological Sciences, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 2Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, United States; 3VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare Service, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Co-infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant problem with both having similar routes of transmission. The current study sought to investigate cortical thickness and subcortical structure volume across a group of HCV/HIV co-infected, HCV mono-infected and healthy adults employing an automated method for regional parcellation that uses curvature landmarks and gray matter (GM)/white matter (WM) surface boundary information. Sixteen HCV mono-infected and 11 HCV/HIV co-infected patients patients were compared to 15 healthy controls. We observed widespread brain regions with cortical thinning in HCV/HIV co-infected and HCV mono-infected adults relative to healthy controls. We also found subcortical GM volume changes between healthy control and HCV/HIV co-infected, HCV mono-infected adults, suggesting that subcortical structures may be highly sensitive to the neuropathological changes associated with HCV.