Cognitive impairment has recently attracted researchers as one of the possible neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19, although how the infection perpetuates impairment of cognitive functions is still obscure. We presented a 29-year-old male patient with COVID-19 who developed new-onset transient attention deficit and memory problems following a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Structural neuroimaging was normal. MR-spectroscopy (MRS) of the bilateral DLPFC revealed significant for decreased levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), glutamate, and glutamate/glutamine ratio. After a follow-up without any medical treatment but with suggestions of memory exercises for three months a control MRS screening of DLPFC showed improved levels of NAA, glutamate, and glutamate/glutamine ratio. This report may suggest that cognitive deficits in SARS-CoV-2 infection can result from glutamatergic dysfunction with decreased NAA and glutamate levels in bilateral DLPFC.

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Despite neuropsychiatric outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection are now under close scrutiny, psychoneuroimmunological characteristics of COVID-19 and precise pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric manifestations of the infection are still obscure. Moreover, there still exists a shortfall in demonstrating specific clinical manifestations of the brain involvement of the virus. Here, we presented a 33-year-old female patient with COVID-19, reporting acute-onset paranoid delusions symptoms, insomnia and irritability. Cranial MRI showed an hyperintense signal in the splenium of the corpus callosum with decreased apparent diffusion coefficient, which might possibly indicate the presence of cytotoxic edema related to the brain involvement of the infection. Following the completion of SARS-CoV-2 treatment, both cytotoxic edema and psychiatric symptoms resolved. In light of this report, we suggest that either heightened immune response and direct viral infection that SARS-CoV-2 may lead to such psychiatric manifestations and neuropsychiatric monitoring should be performed in patients with COVID-19. Prompt recognition of psychiatric consequences of COVID-19 may help clinicians provide guidance for differential diagnosis and manage them accordingly.

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In this report, we present a patient whose positive symptoms did not improve despite being treated with clozapine monotherapy at a therapeutic dose for 4 months, and whose symptoms began to resolve after aripiprazole long-acting injection adjunction to clozapine. A 22-year-old man was diagnosed as having schizophrenia last year in his first admission, with symptoms of auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions, and associated social withdrawal. His positive symptoms did not improve despite being treated with risperidone, olanzapine, and paliperidone. Oral clozapine monotherapy was planned, and the daily dose was increased to provide a therapeutic plasma clozapine concentration and measured as effective (545 mg/dL). Aripiprazole long-acting injection 400 mg monthly was combined with the ongoing clozapine treatment for augmentation. One week after the third injection, a psychiatric examination revealed a significant improvement in the positive symptoms, and his caregivers confirmed an increase in the social interaction of the patient. Although we cannot postulate on a single exact mechanism for the increased efficacy of clozapine and aripiprazole combination, we may suggest that, at least for a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia who respond clinically to clozapine at a suboptimal level, combination with aripiprazole may be an effective therapeutic strategy.

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