Application of diffusion tensor imaging in AIDS patients with brain opportunistic diseases: A comparative study of tuberculosis and toxoplasmosis

ObjectiveThis paper aims to discuss the diagnostic value of quantitative DTI on AIDS patients with brain tuberculosis or toxoplasmosis.Materials and methods22 subjects (12 with brain tuberculosis and 10 with toxoplasmosis) were recruited, who underwent routine MRI, T1WI-CE and DTI imaging sequence. The morphological characteristics of lesions were observed, and FA and ADC values of the solid areas, edematous areas and the contralateral normal areas of the lesions were calculated. Results were compared by one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test. The TB diagnosis efficiency of these two values was analyzed by ROC curve.ResultsADC and FA values were detected with significant differences among the three regions between subjects with brain tuberculosis and subjects with toxoplasmosis (P < 0.05). Statistically significant difference was recorded between solid and edematous areas and contralateral areas in ADC and FA values (P < 0.05). And so was between the solid areas and edema areas in either group. Moreover, the FA values of the solid areas between two groups also presented statistically significant difference (P < 0.01). ROC curve of TB showed the AUC of FA value was larger than that of ADC value (0.914 vs. 0.715, respectively, P < 0.05). DTT imaging showed infiltrative changes of white matter fibers in the lesion areas.ConclusionsQuantitative DTI is valuable for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of patients with AIDS-associated infections, and also could provide references for clinical physicians for proper medications. The quantitative FA value could help better reveal different changes of microstructural integrity between different opportunistic infections.