Surgical experience with carotid stenosis in young HIV-1 positive patients under antiretroviral therapy: an emerging problem?

The introduction of antiretroviral drugs has led to a substantial decrease in HIV patient morbidity and mortality. We report two cases of HIV-1 positive patients with asymptomatic hemodynamically significant stenosis of the internal carotid arteries, being followed with serial echo color Doppler (ECD) as a part of the PREVALEAT (premature vascular lesions and antiretroviral therapy) study. This study aims to detect carotid lesions in HIV-positive patients and to evaluate various risk factors, including the role of antiretroviral treatments (Fig. 1). To our knowledge, our cases are the first to be reported and supported by histological and microbiological studies in the English language literature.