Hallazgos tomográficos en la neuroinfección de pacientes con sida. Análisis retrospectivo

Purpose. Identify the most common tomographic findings of neuroinfection in HIV-positive patients, as well as the most common etiologic agents and the importance of tomography in detecting such alterations. Material and methods. Fifty-six clinical and x-ray files of HIVpositive patients registered in the period between January 2007 and December 2011 at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases were reviewed. Only 30 patients who had a confirmed diagnosis of both HIV and neuroinfection, as well as contrasted cranial tomography and study of cephalorachidian fluid (CRF), were included. CD4 concentrations in patients with no tomographic finding of neuroinfection and patients who presented tomographic alteration were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results. Contrasted cranial tomography in the patients studied in this sample produced findings compatible with meningitis in 46.6% of the cases; in this group, mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified as the most common causal agent (69%). In the statistical analysis of different CD4 values no statistically significant difference was found. Conclusions. Cranial tomography is a highly valuable method, with good sensitivity and excellent availability for studying patients with HIV and signs of neuroinfection. The most common tomographic findings were suggestive of meningitis and mycobacterium tuberculosis was the most common causal agent in patients in our population.