COVID-19 neurological manifestations: correlation of cerebral MRI imaging and lung imaging—Observational study

Abstract

Background During the current pandemic, there is an increased incidence of neurologic/neuropsychiatric manifestations in patients with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Neurologic manifestations may be coincident or result of disease and its therapy. In the emergency department, orientation of the clinician with this issue is crucial for accurate decision making to limit the spread of infection during neurologic treatment. This study aimed to be familiar with MRI findings in patients with Neuro-COVID. Seventy patients presented with neurologic/neuropsychiatric manifestation either post COVID or during hospitalization underwent cerebral MRI from April 2020 to June 2021 (39 men and 31women; mean age 43.27, age range from 16 to 69 years). Results Headache (80%), is the most prevalent neurological manifestations followed by smell and taste impairment (62.9%) and stroke symptoms (45.7%). Low mood and anxiety (17.1%), prolonged fatigue (14.3%) and depression (7.1%) are the most common psychiatric symptoms. Infarctions, hematoma and demyelinating disease are the most prevalent findings. There is a week positive correlation between MRI findings and CT chest finding but without statistical significance (P-value 0.2). Conclusions Cerebrovascular disease and demyelinating lesions are common manifestations of COVID 19. Familiarity of neurologists and radiologist in the emergency department and in-patient with this issue is crucial to avoid misdiagnosis and the spread of infection.

Imaging of COVID-19 vasculopathy from head to toe: Egyptian collective experience after 2 years of the pandemic

“…This could be explained by the higher incidence of smoking in men and also the presence of the protective role of estrogen in females. This was in keeping with the previous research [ 16 – 19 ].…”

“…In this study, hypertension was the most common comorbidity in this study. This was matching with Saleh et al [ 16 ]. On the other hand, diabetes mellitus was the most common comorbidity in Omar et al [ 15 ].…”

“…It was near that estimated by Abdelzaher et al [ 18 ] which was 63 years. On the other hand, both exceeded that estimated by Saleh et al [ 16 ] which was 43 years.…”

“…Agreeing with Saleh et al [ 16 ], and Abdelzaher et al [ 17 ], the ischemic infarctions were the most common neurovascular complications and a disturbed level of consciousness was the most common clinical presentation. Meanwhile, the presence of hemorrhagic insults and vasculitis was infrequent.…”

“…The incidence of thromboembolic complications was 124/1245 (10%) which was near to this study (8%). Saleh et al [ 16 ], and Abdelzaher et al [ 17 ] studied only the vascular and non-vascular neurological complications of COVID-19 infection. The former included 70 patients over 14 months till July 2021 and the latter included 135 patients over six months till December 2020.…”