Brain damage is common among people hospitalized with the virus.
- One in 100 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 will likely develop central nervous system complications.
- Stroke was the most common complication.
- Rare cases of rare pathologies have been observed such as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists have noticed that the new coronavirus has consequences on the brain. In May 2020, the federation for brain research already identified several types of cerebral complications: meningitis, encephalitis, signs of confusion or agitation or even headaches, dizziness and cerebrovascular accidents. More than a year later, researchers from the Radiological Society of North America carried out a large international study on these cerebral complications linked to Covid-19. Their results were presented at the Association’s Annual Congress.
A large sample of patients
“Much has been written about the global lung issues of COVID-19notes the main author of this study, Scott H. Faro, professor of radiology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, but we don’t often talk about the other organs that may be affected.” When he discovered that research on the consequences of the virus on the central nervous system was based on a low number of cases, he decided to launch a research on this subject, drawing on a larger sample of To achieve this, Scott H. Faro and his team analyzed nearly 40,000 cases of hospitalized patients positive for the COVID-19 in seven US teaching hospitals and four located in Western Europe. All had been admitted between September 2019 and June 2020. In this group of patients, the average age was 66, and there were twice as many men as women.
A significant cause of death in people positive for Covid-19
Among these people, the most common cause of hospital admission was confusion and altered mental status, as well as fever. Many patients had comorbidities such as hypertension, heart disease or diabetes. “Of all hospitalized patients who underwent brain imaging, the exam was positive in approximately 10% of cases, explained Dr. Faro. The 1.2% incidence means just over 1 in 100 patients admitted to hospital who are COVID-19 positive will have a brain problem.” The most common complication was stroke, followed by intracranial hemorrhage and encephalitis. In a very small proportion, scientists observed other pathologies: acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, which resembles many symptoms of stroke. According to the authors, these complications are a cause”significant“mortality in people with Covid-19.”It is important to know the precise incidence of all major central nervous system complications“, emphasizes Dr. Faro. To achieve this, he recommends prescribing MRIs more widely to patients with Covid-19.
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