Thymic involvement in immune recovery during antiretroviral treatment of HIV infection in adults; comparison of CT and sonographic findings

In adult HIV-infected patients, thymic size evaluated from CT scans seems to be important to the degree of immune reconstitution obtainable during treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). To examine whether ultrasound is as reliable as CT for estimating thymic size and predicting immune recovery, CT and ultrasound scans were performed in 25 adult HIV-infected patients and 10 controls. CD4 counts and naive CD4 counts were measured in order to determine immune reconstitution. Furthermore, the CD4(+) T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC) frequency and T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire were determined. The study demonstrated no correlation between the 2 scanning methods (r = 0.201, p = 0.358 in patients and r = 0.457, p = 0.184 in controls). Among the patients, no association was found between the sonographically estimated thymic size and immunological parameters such as CD4 count (r = 0.083, p = 0.706), naive CD4 count (r = 0.067, p = 0.762), CD4(+) TREC frequency (r = 0.028, p = 0.900) and CD4(+) TCR repertoire (r = -0.057, p = 0.828). These findings show that CT remains superior for assessing thymic size in adults and is preferable to ultrasound when evaluating the importance of a large thymus to immune recovery during HAART.