Sonographic Evaluation Of Renal Changes Among Drug-Dependent And Drug-Naive Adult Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome In Kano, Nigeria

Context: Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) remains a major challenge globally. HIVassociated nephropathy is the third most common cause of endstage renal failure and more prevalent among AfricanAmericans with HIV compared with other races. Aims: This study evaluated sonographic renal changes in drugdependent and drugnaive patients with HIV/AIDS in Kano, Nigeria.Materials and Methods: A prospective and comparative study involving 190 each of drugdependent and drugnaive patients were conducted. Renal sonography was performed using digital ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system, equipped with a 3.5 MHz curvilinear transducer. Statistical analysis used: An independent ttest and Mann-Whitney Utest were used to compare the renal volume and mean rank of the renal parenchymal echogenicity between drugdependent and drugnaive patients. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05. Results: The mean values of the CD4 counts were 573.20 +/- 222.441 cells/mm3 for drugdependent and 252.43 +/- 215.22 cells/mm3 for drugnaive patients. The drugdependent and drugnaive patients had mean right renal volumes of 118.12 +/- 27.75 cm3 and 128.48 +/- 37.73 cm3, whereas the left renal volumes were 114.84 +/- 24.14 cm3 and 123.35 +/- 28.22 cm3, respectively. The drugdependent patients had 6.3% and 4.7% increased renal parenchymal echogenicity on the right and left, whereas the drugsnaive patients had 45.3% and 43.7%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the right and left renal volume between drugdependent and drugnaive patients (P = 0.003 and P = 0.002). There was a significant statistical difference in the right and left renal parenchymal echogenicity between drugdependent and drugnaive patients (P = 0.00). Conclusions: There was a significant statistical difference in the renal volume and parenchymal echogenicity between drugdependent and drugnaive patients.