Brain correlates of subjective cognitive complaints in COVID-19 survivors: A multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study.

Cognitive impairment represents a leading residual symptom of COVID-19 infection, which lasts for months after the virus clearance. Up-to-date scientific reports documented a wide spectrum of brain changes in COVID-19 survivors following the illness's resolution, mainly related to neurological and neuropsychiatric consequences. Preliminary insights suggest abnormal brain metabolism, microstructure, and functionality as neural under-layer of post-acute cognitive dysfunction. While previous works focused on brain correlates of impaired cognition as objectively assessed, herein we investigated long-term neural correlates of subjective cognitive decline in a sample of 58 COVID-19 survivors with a multimodal imaging approach. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) analyses revealed widespread white matter disruption in the sub-group of cognitive complainers compared to the non-complainer one, as indexed by increased axial, radial, and mean diffusivity in several commissural, projection and associative fibres. Likewise, the Multivoxel Pattern Connectivity analysis (MVPA) revealed highly discriminant patterns of functional connectivity in resting-state among the two groups in the right frontal pole and in the middle temporal gyrus, suggestive of inefficient dynamic modulation of frontal brain activity and possible metacognitive dysfunction at rest. Beyond COVID-19 actual pathophysiological brain processes, our findings point toward brain connectome disruption conceivably translating into clinical post-COVID cognitive symptomatology. Our results could pave the way for a potential brain signature of cognitive complaints experienced by COVID-19 survivors, possibly leading to identify early therapeutic targets and thus mitigating its detrimental long-term impact on quality of life in the post-COVID-19 stages.

Brain correlates of depression, post-traumatic distress, and inflammatory biomarkers in COVID-19 survivors: A multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study.

Psychiatric sequelae substantially contribute to the post-acute burden of disease associated with COVID-19, persisting months after clearance of the virus. Brain imaging shows white matter (WM) hypodensities/hyperintensities, and the involvement of grey matter (GM) in prefrontal, anterior cingulate (ACC) and insular cortex after COVID, but little is known about brain correlates of persistent psychopathology. With a multimodal approach, we studied whole brain voxel-based morphometry, diffusion-tensor imaging, and resting-state connectivity, to correlate MRI measures with depression and post-traumatic distress (PTSD) in 42 COVID-19 survivors without brain lesions, at 90.59 â€‹± â€‹54.66 days after COVID. Systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) measured in the emergency department, which reflects the immune response and systemic inflammation based on peripheral lymphocyte, neutrophil, and platelet counts, predicted worse self-rated depression and PTSD, widespread lower diffusivity along the main axis of WM tracts, and abnormal functional connectivity (FC) among resting state networks. Self-rated depression and PTSD inversely correlated with GM volumes in ACC and insula, axial diffusivity, and associated with FC. We observed overlapping associations between severity of inflammation during acute COVID-19, brain structure and function, and severity of depression and post-traumatic distress in survivors, thus warranting interest for further study of brain correlates of the post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Beyond COVID-19, these findings support the hypothesis that regional GM, WM microstructure, and FC could mediate the relationship between a medical illness and its psychopathological sequelae, and are in agreement with current perspectives on the brain structural and functional underpinnings of depressive psychopathology.

Case Report: Unilateral Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy Associated With COVID-19 in a 2-year-old Child.

Children have been described to show neurological symptoms in acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). We present a 2-year-old boy's clinical course of unilateral acute sixth nerve palsy in the context of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Onset of the palsy in the otherwise healthy boy occurred seven days after symptoms attributed to acute infection had subsided respectively 3 weeks after onset of respiratory symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG was detected in serum as well as in cerebrospinal fluid. The patient showed a prolonged but self-limiting course with a full recovery after three and a half months. This case illustrates in a detailed chronological sequence that sixth cranial nerve involvement may occur as post-infectious, self-limiting complication of pediatric SARS-CoV-2-infection thus expanding the neurological spectrum of symptoms for children with COVID-19. Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of post-infectious sixth nerve palsy related to SARS-CoV-2-infection particularly in view of recent respiratory tract infection or confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2-infection amongst the patient's close contacts.