PET imaging of presynaptic nigrostriatal dopaminergic function in optimally treated HIV+ patients

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Abstract

We have received IRB approval to start recruiting patients in July 2018. We started imaging on 11/20/2018. We have already recruited a total of 38 subjects who have undergone one scan (Only FDOPA scan, n=1, only DASB scan, n=2) or two scans (FDOPA and DASB, n= 35) Imaging the dopaminergic system: 1. Group A: 18 patients with HIV infection 2. Group B: 11 subjects without HIV infection with at least one co-morbidity 3. Group C: 8 patients without HIV infection without co-morbidities. Imaging of the Serotonin transporter (SERT using 11C-DASB). 1. Group D: 16 patients with HIV infection. 2. Group E: 20 patients without HIV infection. Updates: there was a long period of hiatus where we could not include subjects due to the covid epidemic. We started recruiting patients again in late 2020. We have since amended our protocol to be able to recruit subjects from other NIH intramural protocols other than the all hands protocol. This necessitated adding MRI and neuropsychological testing to the protocol for those subjects. Data analysis: we are currently analyzing the data (operator blinded for the group) namely quantifying FDOPA and DASB uptake in the brain of all our subjects. We are hoping to finalize recruitment and perform a final analysis in early to mid 2022.