Study uncovers clues to COVID-19 in the brain

Summary: Altered mental state and strokes are the most common neurological symptoms associated with coronavirus infection.

Source: University of Cincinnati

A study by University of Cincinnati researchers and four Italian institutions reviewing neuroimaging and neurological symptoms in patients with COVID-19 may shed light on the virus’s impact on the central nervous system.

The findings, published in the journal Radiology, reveal that altered mental status and stroke are the most common neurological symptoms in COVID-19 patients, which authors say could help physicians notice “red flags” earlier.

“Studies have described the spectrum of chest imaging features of COVID-19, but only a few case reports have described COVID-19 associated neuroimaging findings,” says lead author Abdelkader Mahammedi, MD, assistant professor of radiology at UC and a UC Health neuroradiologist. “To date, this is the largest and first study in literature that characterizes the neurological symptoms and neuroimaging features in COVID-19 patients. These newly discovered patterns could help doctors better and sooner recognize associations with COVID-19 and possibly provide earlier interventions.”

Researchers in this study investigated neurological symptoms and imaging findings in patients from three major institutions in Italy: University of Brescia, Brescia; University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara; and University of Sassari, Sassari. Italy was the second epicenter of the spread of COVID-19, resulting in over 30,000 deaths.

The study included images from 725 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection between Feb. 29 and April 4. Of these, 108 (15%) had serious neurological symptoms and underwent brain or spine imaging. Most patients (99%) had brain CT scans, while 16% had head and neck CT imaging and 18% had brain MRI.

Investigators found that 59% of patients reported an altered mental state and 31% experienced stroke, which were the most common neurological symptoms. Patients also experienced headache (12%), seizure (9%) and dizziness (4%), among other symptoms.

While results show that the neuroimaging features of patients with COVID-19 vary, and an altered mental status and stroke are the most prevalent in patients, Mahammedi says this study reveals that there are other conditions to be on the lookout for. Image is in the public domain.

“Of these 108 patients, 31, or 29%, had no known past medical history. Of these, aged 16 to 62 years, 10 experienced stroke and two had brain bleeds,” Mahammedi says. “Seventy-one, or 66%, of these patients had no findings on a brain CT, out of which 7 of them (35%) brain MRI showed abnormalities.”

He adds that altered mental status was more common in older adults.

While results show that the neuroimaging features of patients with COVID-19 vary, and an altered mental status and stroke are the most prevalent in patients, Mahammedi says this study reveals that there are other conditions to be on the lookout for.

“This topic definitely needs more research,” he says. “Currently, we have a poor understanding of the neurological symptoms in COVID-19 patients, whether these are arising from critical illness or from direct central nervous system invasion of SARS-CoV-2. We hope further study on this subject will help in uncovering clues and providing better interventions for patients.”

About this coronavirus research article

Source:
University of Cincinnati
Media Contacts:
Katie Pence – University of Cincinnati
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.

Original Research: Open access
“Imaging in Neurological Disease of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: An Italian Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study”. by Abdelkader Mahammedi et al.
Radiology doi:10.1148/radiol.2020201933

Abstract

Imaging in Neurological Disease of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: An Italian Multicenter Retrospective Observational Study

An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has rapidly spread around the world to become a pandemic (1). Italy was the second epicenter of the spread of the disease and at the time of writing has a total of 222,104 cases and 31,106 deaths (1). Several studies have described the spectrum of chest imaging features of COVID-19 (2). However, to date, only a few case reports have described COVID-19 associated neuroimaging findings (3–8). The purpose of our study was to systematically characterize neurological symptoms and neuroimaging features in hospitalized COVID-19 patients from multiple institutions in Italy.

Feel Free To Share This COVID-19 News.

Join our Newsletter
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.
I agree to have my personal information transferred to AWeber for Neuroscience Newsletter ( more information )
Sign up to receive our recent neuroscience headlines and summaries sent to your email once a day, totally free.
We hate spam and only use your email to contact you about newsletters. You can cancel your subscription any time.
Exit mobile version