Neurovascular and perfusion imaging findings in coronavirus disease 2019: Case report and literature review

Neuroradiol J. 2020 Oct;33(5):368-373. doi: 10.1177/1971400920941652. Epub 2020 Jul 15.

Abstract

Central nervous system involvement in severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has increasingly been recognised in the literature, and possible mechanisms of neuroinvasion, neurotropism and neurovirulence have been described. Neurological signs have been described in 84% of COVID-19 intensive care unit patients, and haemostatic abnormalities in such patients may play an important role, with a broad spectrum of neuroimaging findings. This report describes the magnetic resonance imaging neurovascular findings in an acutely ill patient with COVID-19, including perfusion abnormalities depicted in the arterial spin labelling technique.

Keywords: COVID-19; arterial spin labelling (ASL); cerebral blood flow (CBF); neurointensivism; neuroradiology; neurovascular.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Betacoronavirus
  • Brain / blood supply
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging*
  • COVID-19
  • Cerebrovascular Circulation*
  • Coronavirus Infections / complications
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnostic imaging*
  • Coronavirus Infections / physiopathology
  • Corpus Callosum
  • Frontal Lobe
  • Humans
  • Intracranial Hemorrhages
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Pandemics
  • Parietal Lobe
  • Perfusion Imaging
  • Pneumonia, Viral / complications
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnostic imaging*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / physiopathology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Spin Labels
  • Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / complications
  • Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / diagnostic imaging*
  • Thalamus

Substances

  • Spin Labels