Abstract #3649

Micro-Structural Alterations in the Brain of Well-Treated HIV+ Patients with Minor Neurocognitive Disorders: A Multi-Contrast MRI Study at 3T.

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.