Cerebral metabolic change in patients with AIDS: report of a six-month follow-up using positron-emission tomography.

The authors examined change in cerebral metabolic function over time by using PET in HIV-infected individuals diagnosed with AIDS. Ten subjects with AIDS received [18F]2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose PET scans and completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. The scan and test battery were repeated after 6 months. Over time, the subjects showed increased relative basal ganglia metabolism as well as increased parietal lobe metabolism. There were no statistically significant changes in neuropsychological performance. These results suggest that PET may be more sensitive than traditional neuropsychological evaluation to subtle central nervous system changes in AIDS.