2023-11-22 14:20:48
People with persistent Covid show different patterns in the brain than those who have fully recovered from the infection caused by the virus. It has been seen by a team from the Departments of Neuroradiology and Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology of the Freiburg University Hospital (Germany).
“This study allows an in vivo view of the impact of covid-19 on the brain,” highlights Alexander Rau. The research, which will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), has identified alterations in the gray matter both in patients with long covid and in those without involvement after a coronavirus infection.
The findings also revealed a correlation between microstructural changes and symptom-specific brain networks associated with impaired cognition, sense of smell, and fatigue.
“This is the first study that compares patients with persistent covid with a group without a history of covid and another that had an infection but is subjectively not affected,” explains Rau.
After a Covid-19 infection, up to 10-25% of patients may develop persistent Covid. They may experience a wide variety of symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating.niebla cerebral‘, change in sense of smell or taste, fatigue, joint or muscle pain, shortness of breath, digestive symptoms and more. These symptoms can persist for weeks, months or, as is only becoming apparent, years after Covid-19 infection.
Thanks to a novel magnetic resonance technique that captures the movement of water molecules in tissues in different directions and at different speeds, detailed information about the microstructure of the brain can be obtained. It can detect even very small changes in the brain, not detectable with conventional MRI.
For this study, brain MRIs of three groups were compared: 89 patients with long Covid, 38 patients who contracted Covid-19 but reported no subjective long-term symptoms, and 46 healthy controls with no history of Covid.
Despite these brain imaging findings, it is still unclear why some people develop long-covid while others do not.
First, the researchers compared the brain macrostructure of these three groups to look for atrophy or other abnormalities. They then used the new technique to gain a deeper understanding of the brain.
The results showed that there was no loss of brain volume or other lesions that could explain the symptoms of persistent covid. However, the infection induced a specific pattern of microstructural changes in various brain regions, and this pattern differed between those who had persistent Covid and those who did not.
The researchers hope to re-examine the patients in the future, recording both clinical symptoms and changes in brain microstructure.
Despite these brain imaging findings, it is still unclear why some people develop long Covid while others do not, although previous studies have identified risk factors such as female sex, older age, higher body mass index , smoking, pre-existing comorbidities and previous hospitalization or admission to the intensive care unit.
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