Cristina Granziera1, 2, Alessandro Daducci3, Samanta Simioni1, Matthias Cavassini4, Alexis Roche2, Djalel Meskaldij3, Melanie Michel5, Alexandra Calmy6, Bern
1Department of clinical neurosciences, CHUV, Lausanne, VD, Switzerland; 2Advanced clinical imaging technology, EPFL, Lausanne, VD, Switzerland; 3EPFL STI IEL LTS5, EPFL, Lausanne, VD, Switzerland; 4Department of infectious diseases, CHUV, Lausanne, VD, Switzerland; 5Neuropsychology, HUG, Geneva, Switzerland; 6Infectious diseases, HUG, Geneva, Switzerland; 7Heathcare sector IM&WS S,, Siemens Schweiz AG, Renens, VD, Switzerland
Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapies, the prognosis of HIV patients has improved but the prevalence of minor neurocognitive disorders (MND) has increased. In this study, we used a multi-contrast MRI approach at 3T, to assess brain micro-structural characteristics in MND+ HIV+ patients, MND- HIV+ patients and healthy controls (HC). Our findings show the presence of micro-structural brain alterations in MND+ patients compared to MND- and HC, suggesting loss of structural integrity. In addition, they suggest that a multi-contrast MRI approach at high field may be a powerful approach to understand the physiopathology of MND.