Department of Radiology, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
Neuroradiology. 2011 Aug;53(8):585-92. doi: 10.1007/s00234-010-0782-6. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
This study was conducted to compare diffusion tensor MR imaging (DTI) metrics of the cervical spinal cord in asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients with those measured in healthy volunteers, and to assess whether DTI is a valuable diagnostic tool in the early detection of HIV-associated myelopathy (HIVM).
MR imaging of the cervical spinal cord was performed in 20 asymptomatic HIV-positive patients and in 20 healthy volunteers on a 3-T MR scanner. Average fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and major (E1) and minor (E2, E3) eigenvalues were calculated within regions of interest (ROIs) at the C2/3 level (central and bilateral anterior, lateral and posterior white matter).
Statistical analysis showed significant differences with regard to mean E3 values between patients and controls (p = 0.045; mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) test). Mean FA was lower, and mean MD, mean E1, and mean E2 were higher in each measured ROI in patients compared to controls, but these differences were not statistically significant.
Asymptomatic HIV-positive patients demonstrate only subtle changes in DTI metrics measured in the cervical spinal cord compared to healthy volunteers that currently do not support using DTI as a diagnostic tool for the early detection of HIVM.
本研究旨在比较无症状人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）阳性患者与健康志愿者的颈脊髓弥散张量磁共振成像（DTI）指标，并评估 DTI 是否可作为早期发现 HIV 相关脊髓病（HIVM）的有价值的诊断工具。
在 3T MR 扫描仪上对 20 例无症状 HIV 阳性患者和 20 例健康志愿者的颈脊髓进行 MR 成像。在 C2/3 水平（中央和双侧前、外侧和后白质）的感兴趣区域（ROI）内计算平均各向异性分数（FA）、平均弥散度（MD）以及主（E1）和次（E2、E3）特征值。
统计分析显示，患者与对照组之间的平均 E3 值存在显著差异（p=0.045；混合模型方差分析（ANOVA）检验）。与对照组相比，患者在每个测量 ROI 中的平均 FA 较低，平均 MD、平均 E1 和平均 E2 较高，但这些差异无统计学意义。
与健康志愿者相比，无症状 HIV 阳性患者的颈脊髓 DTI 指标仅显示出细微变化，目前不支持将 DTI 用作早期发现 HIVM 的诊断工具。
