Radiation Recall Pneumonitis COVID-19 Infection Induced After Adjuvant Breast Cancer Radiotherapy. A Known Phenomenon in an Unknown Pandemic Disease: A Case Report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has opened several new disease scenarios, yielding novel syndromes that have never been seen before and resurrecting old inflammatory phenomena that are no longer recorded, such as radiation recall (RR) syndromes. Radiation recall syndrome is a limited field inflammatory reaction that occurs in a volume that was irradiated several months or years previously before being induced by a triggering factor. The most frequently reported phenomena are skin reactions; however, other organs could be involved, such as the lungs in radiation recall pneumonitis (RRP). It is a well-described inflammatory reaction that occurs within a pulmonary volume that was irradiated several months or years previously via radiotherapy (RT), triggered by factors such as drugs, including chemotherapy agents, immunotherapy, or vaccination. Indeed, during the COVID-19 pandemic, RRP following anti-COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV2 infection was recently reported. ACE receptor-rich tissues such as lung or skin tissues were mainly involved. Herein, we present a case of RRP triggered by COVID-19 pulmonary infection in a woman who previously underwent adjuvant breast cancer radiotherapy. Although symptoms were typical, pulmonary CT findings depicted a unique distribution of ground-glass opacities (GGOs) throughout the previous radiation portals and mirror-like the radiation fields. Anamnesis and radiation plan evaluation were crucial in the diagnosis of RRP.

COVID-19 and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Prion-Like Spread and Long-Term Consequences.

COVID-19 emerged as a global pandemic starting from Wuhan in China and spread at a lightning speed to the rest of the world. One of the potential long-term outcomes that we speculate is the development of neurodegenerative diseases as a long-term consequence of SARS-CoV-2 especially in people that have developed severe neurological symptoms. Severe inflammatory reactions and aging are two very strong common links between neurodegenerative diseases and COVID-19. Thus, patients that have very high viral load may be at high risk of developing long-term adverse neurological consequences such as dementia. We hypothesize that people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and aged people are at higher risk of getting the COVID-19 than normal adults. The basis of this hypothesis is the fact that SARS-CoV-2 uses as a receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 to enter the host cell and that this interaction is calcium-dependent. This could then suggest a direct relationship between neurodegenerative diseases, ACE-2 expression, and the susceptibility to COVID-19. The analysis of the available literature showed that COVID-19 virus is neurotropic and was found in the brains of patients infected with this virus. Furthermore, that the risk of having the infection increases with dementia and that infected people with severe symptoms could develop dementia as a long-term consequence. Dementia could be developed following the acceleration of the spread of prion-like proteins. In the present review we discuss current reports concerning the prevalence of COVID-19 in dementia patients, the individuals that are at high risk of suffering from dementia and the potential acceleration of prion-like proteins spread following SARS-CoV-2 infection.