Conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging data as an indicator to perform HIV testing

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is now a global pandemic and our region, “Eastern Europe and Central Asia” is World leading area in terms of the rate of HIV spread with the fraction of a newly infected person during the year 2016 of 11.87 %. In our practice, it has been noticed that at least 25 % of patients undergoing brain MRI have self-administered the study based on a personal feeling of “something wrong”. Many of them subjectively believe in MRI as in powerful method that allows detecting most significant pathologies. Consequently, that is MRI conclusion that guides patients for further consultations and testing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of conventional brain MRI data to serve as an indicator for HIV-testing in cases when AIDS-defining and highly HIV specific changes are not present. We composed a list of potentially significant criteria, composed test, and control groups, determined statistically significant criteria, assigned the numerical score to significant criteria, established MR-scoring system. Conventional brain MRI was shown to serve as a useful indicator for HIV testing when there is no clear evidence of AIDS-defining findings. MR-scoring system proposed in this study allows forming groups of patients with increased risk for HIV for subsequent HIVtesting.