More articles from ADULT BRAIN

CBF data from the UCSF HIV Over 60 Cohort and the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were retrospectively evaluated to identify 19 HIV+ older adults, all with plasma viral suppression (including 5 with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder); 13 healthy, age-matched controls; and 19 participants with early mild cognitive impairment. When accounting for age, education, sex, and vascular risk factors, the HIV+ participants demonstrated alterations in regional cerebral perfusion, including hypoperfusion of bilateral temporal, parietal, and occipital brain regions. This study found significant changes in specific CBF patterns associated with HIV status despite viral suppression.

In this retrospective study, the phase-contrast MR imaging of 185 patients with suspected chronic adult hydrocephalus was evaluated using the CSF Flow software package. Decision-making for shunt placement was performed in this cohort on the basis of clinical assessment alone without the availability of quantitative phase-contrast MRI results. The authors evaluated the response to lumbar puncture or lumbar drainage and shunt surgery using quantitative tests such as the Tinetti Test, the Timed Up and Go, and the Mini-Mental State Examination and qualitative measures of gait, urinary, and cognitive symptom improvement before and after lumbar puncture/lumbar drainage and shunt surgery. This study suggests that the results of phase-contrast MR imaging through the cerebral aqueduct alone should not be used to select patients for diagnostic or therapeutic CSF diversion.