Abstract

BUSTAMANTE F, Gonzalo; CARTIER R, Luis  and  LAVADOS M, Manuel. Cerebellar atrophy by the JC virus in a patient with AIDS. Rev. chil. neuro-psiquiatr. [online]. 2009, vol.47, n.3, pp. 222-227. ISSN 0717-9227.  doi: 10.4067/S0717-92272009000300007.

The progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating CNS disease, characterized by lysis of injected oligodendrocytes by JC virus (JCV). Immunodeficiency is a predisposing factor for acquiring the disease and at least 5% of AIDS patients may develop PML. Among patients infected with HIV has also been described the lysis of the granullar cells of the cerebellum and cerebellar atrophy, attributed to a variant of the JCV. We present 37 years old HIV infected men, with postural dizziness, followed by gait disturbances, and a cerebellar syndrome, scanned speech, hyperreflexia, pendular reflexes, Babinski sign and mild cognitive impairment were present. Brain MRI showed hyperintense areas of the white matter in the cerebral hemispheres, thalamus and brainstem, associated with incipient atrophy of the cerebellum. The CSF was normal except for the PCR positive for the JCV. The patient received antiretroviral therapy. A second MRI, eight months later, showed a slightly increase in lesions of the cerebral hemispheres, and the left cerebellar hemisphere, but had developed a marked cerebellar atrophy. After two years, the patient remained with a serious cerebellar syndrome. That in association with the slow course of the disease and the particular cerebellar lesions, are suggestive of a mixed JCV infection of both, the typical and mutant type, in this patient. This is the first case of cerebellar atrophy by the JCV reported in the Chilean literature.

Keywords : JC virus; progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy; cerebellar atrophy.