Regional Cerebral Gray Matter Volume in HIV-Positive Patients with Executive Function Deficits

Purpose To evaluate whether human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients with and without executive functions deficits and healthy control subjects differ on cortical thickness and subcortical brain structures volume in vivo. Methods In total, 34 HIV-positive patients with executive functions deficits were compared with 13 HIV-positive patients without executive functions deficits and 19 gender-, age-, and education-matched control subjects. Executive functions impairments were classified by performance on the Wisconsin card sorting test. T1 3-dimensional magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo-weighted imaging was performed using a 1.5 Tesla (magnetic resonance) MR scanner. FreeSurfer software was used to perform cortical reconstruction and volumetric segmentation of subcortical gray matter structures. Results HIV-positive patients with executive functions deficits had smaller volumes in the right and left caudate compared with the HIV-positive patients without executive functions deficits and control groups. In addition, HIV-positive patients with executive functions deficits had smaller volumes in their left accumbens, right putamen, and globus pallidum compared with the control group. No significant differences in cortical thickness were observed between the groups. Conclusion HIV-positive patients with executive functions deficits have reduced volumes of several subcortical structures, primarily in the caudate nucleus.