Peripheral Arterial Localizations
Clinical reports and systematic necropsies of AIDS patients pointed out arterial lesions. Kieburtz et al. [4] reported brain infarction in 20% of autopsies, Engstrom et al. [5] described 25 clinical cases.
Joshi et al. [6] described arterial lesions in kidneys, spleen, thymus, and muscles in five children aged 1-7 years, including luminal narrowing with intima fibrosis, internal elastic lamina fragmentation, and calcifications.Husson et al. [7] in a cohort of 250 HIV- infected children noted the appearance of two fusiform cerebral aneurysms. Rautonen et al. [8] pointed out clinical and anatomic similarities with Kawasaki’s disease, which may be due to a retrovirus organism. Capron et al. [9] described toe embolism in four HIV male patients (40-56 years old) from aortic and femoral ulcerated atherosclerotic plaques. Kabus and Greco [10] described gross intimal aortic lesions at autopsy, resembling gelatiniform syphilitic ones in children with AIDS. Clinical information about vasculitis and peripheral arterial disease in HIV infection is given by P. Mercie et al. in a separate chapter in this volume.