Neuroimaging in the First 6 Weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic in an 8-Hospital Campus: Observations and Patterns in the Brain, Head and Neck, and Spine

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to aggregate neuroradiological findings in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the brain, head and neck, and spine to identify trends and unique patterns.

Methods: A retrospective review of neuroimaged COVID-19 patients during a 6-week surge in our 8-hospital campus was performed. The brain imaging with reported acute or subacute infarction, intraparenchymal hemorrhage, and all neck examinations were reinterpreted by 2 reviewers.

Results: Six hundred seventy-one patients met criteria and were reviewed. Acute or subacute infarction was seen in 39 (6%), intraparenchymal hemorrhage in 14 (2%), corpus callosum involvement in 7, and thalamus in 5 patients. In spine and neck studies, lung opacities and adenopathy were seen in 46 and 4 patients, respectively.

Conclusions: Infarction followed by intraparenchymal hemorrhage was the most common acute findings in the brain with frequent involvement of the corpus callosum and thalami. In the neck, lung abnormalities were frequently present, and adenopathy was almost always associated with a second pathology.