Even in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, AIDS dementia remains an important and devastating complication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection. Based on the 1997 AIDS case rate of 56 per 100 000 population in the USA, a reasonable estimated incidence of AIDS dementia is 3–8 per 100 000, similar to that of multiple sclerosis. The pharmacology of AIDS dementia has been dominated by antiretroviral therapies, the best studied of which is azidothymidine. New and specific therapies are needed to treat and prevent brain injury in the setting of HIV infection. Rational therapy has been limited by the absence of large, adequate and well-controlled clinical trials using neuroprotective agents or those with disease-modifying potential, as well as by an incomplete understanding of the pathophysiology of AIDS dementia. In this review, a summary of evidence-based hypotheses of HIV-associated brain injury is followed by information on current nonantiretroviral therapeutic trials and their scientific rationale.
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