Brain volume measurements in patients with human T-cell lymphotropic virus-1-associated tropical spastic paraparesis

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV)-1 is associated with a chronic progressive neurologic disease known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) that affects 0.2% to 3% of HTLV-1-infected people. The authors aimed at exploring, in vivo, whether brain volume reduction occurs in patients with HAM/TSP through the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). T1 pre/postcontrast spin echo-weighted images (WIs) and T2WIs of the brain were obtained in 19 HAM/TSP patients and 14 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Both patients and healthy individuals were imaged at a 1.5-Tesla magnet by employing a conventional head coil. Focal T1 and T2 abnormalities were calculated and two measurements of brain parenchyma fraction (BPF) were obtained by using SIENAx (Structural Image Evaluation, using Normalisation, of Atrophy; University of Oxford, Oxford, UK) and MIPAV (Medical Image Processing, Analysis, and Visualization; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA) from T1WIs. No significant differences in BPF were found between patients and healthy subjects when using either SIENAx or MIPAV. Analysis of individual patients detected that BPF was lower by 1 standard deviation (SD) relative to patients' average BPF in one patient. The authors conclude that reductions in BPF do not occur frequently in patients with HAM/TSP. However, the authors believe that one individual case of significant brain atrophy raises the question as to whether atrophy selectively targets the spinal cord of HAM/TSP patients or may involve the brain as well. A larger patient population analyzing regional brain volume changes could be helpful in determining whether brain atrophy is a marker of disease in patients with HAM/TSP.