Clinical and imaging characterization of patients with toxoplasmic encephalitis

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral toxoplasmosis is one of the most common opportunistic infections in HIV- positive patients. The clinical picture is given by confusion, personality disorders, lethargy and signs of neurological focus. It is generally located in the basal ganglia and may present single or multiple lesions.Aim: to describe clinical and imaging characteristics in patients diagnosed with toxoplasmic encephalitis.Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data and the chi square statistic was used to determine the possible association between qualitative variables.Results: the average age was 38.2 years (SD = 9.66). Of them, 53 (75.7%) patients were male and 17 (24.3%) were female. Patients taking antiretroviral medications (62.9%) predominated. The main clinical manifestations observed were: headache (72.9%), motor defect (54.3 %) and awareness (50%). Statistically significant differences were reported between the proportions of the levels of the variables hospital discharge condition and CD 4 levels (X2(2) = 6.19, p < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences between the proportions of the variables hospital discharge condition and lesions in computed tomography (X2(8) = 18.6, p < 0.05).Conclusions: toxoplasmic encephalitis is more common in males and in patients over 38 years of age. The CD4 count and the number of lesions on the head CT scan influence at the prognosis.