Chest X-ray findings in HIV- infected Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) - naïve patients

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection frequently present with a wide spectrum of pulmonary and cardiac
complications from the virus, opportunistic infections and neoplasms that may be associated with a high mortality rate. Diseases of the respiratory
tract account for about half of deaths from AIDS, while cardiac diseases account for more than a quarter of deaths from AIDS. This study aimed at
determining the prevalence of pulmonary and cardiac diseases using a chest radiograph in HAART-naïve HIV-infected patients. Methods: This
study was conducted at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) HIV clinic between September 2010 and August 2011 amongst all
registered HAART-naïve HIV/AIDS patients. Patients had posterior-anterior chest radiographs done in full inspiration. Participants were asked and
aided to fill the structured questionnaires to obtain demographic data. Results: Out of a total of one hundred and two recruited for the study, 54 (
52.94%) had a normal chest radiograph, while 48 (47.06%) had abnormal chest radiograph .The abnormal findings included, 27.45% who had
bronchopneumonia, 6.86% cardiomegaly, 5.88% pulmonary tuberculosis, 5.88% radiological features of congestive cardiac failure, and 0.98%
bronchitis. Conclusion: It appears that more than half of HAART–naïve HIV-infected patients have normal chest radiographs. Bronchopneumonia
(27.5%) is the commonest pulmonary abnormality associated with HIV infection, while the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis is 5.88%.

Key words: Chest X-ray, HIV-infected, HAART-naïve