Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1479183
This article is part of the Research Topic Neurocognitive Dysfunction in People Living with HIV and the Underlying Brain Mechanisms View all 6 articles

Neuroimaging Advances in Neurocognitive Disorders Among HIV-Infected Individuals

Provisionally accepted
Han Wang Han Wang 1*Qianru Wang Qianru Wang 2Lingling Zhao Lingling Zhao 3Xiaolin Jiu Xiaolin Jiu 4Zihua Wang Zihua Wang 5Yanwei Zhang Yanwei Zhang 4
  • 1 Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
  • 2 Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Shaanxi Province, China
  • 3 Sixth People's Hospital of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
  • 4 Department of Radiology, Bethune International Peace Hospital, Shijiazhuang, China
  • 5 Department of Oncology, Bethune International Peace Hospital, Shijiazhuang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Although combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has been widely applied and effectively extends the lifespan of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), these patients remain at a substantially increased risk of developing neurocognitive impairment, commonly referred to as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as an indispensable tool for characterizing the brain function and structure. In this review, we focus on the applications of various MRI-based neuroimaging techniques in individuals infected with HIV. Functional MRI, structural MRI, diffusion MRI, and quantitative MRI have all contributed to advancing our comprehension of the neurological alterations caused by HIV. It is hoped that more reliable evidence can be achieved to fully determine the driving factors of cognitive impairment in HIV through the combination of multi-modal MRI and the utilization of more advanced neuroimaging analysis methods.

    Keywords: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, functional magnetic resonance imaging, structural magnetic resonance imaging, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Received: 11 Aug 2024; Accepted: 26 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang, Zhao, Jiu, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Han Wang, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.