Asymptomatic COVID-19 and structural changes in the brain

Year 2024, , 59 - 64, 15.01.2024

Sinan Eliaçık , Mehmet Büyükşireci

https://doi.org/10.38053/acmj.1386041

Abstract

Aims: Neurological symptoms are the most prevalent extrapulmonary complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this context, the objective of this study is to assess the brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters of asymptomatic COVID-19 individuals one year after diagnosed with COVID-19 in comparison with healthy control subjects.
Methods: The population of this prospective study consisted of individuals who have not developed olfactory impairment or other complications within one year after diagnosed with COVID-19. For the study, 8 male, 25 female, 4 male and 23 female individuals were accepted for PCG and CG, respectively, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age was found to be 37.75±11.56 and 37.11±10.67, respectively. All participants included in the study underwent olfactory sulcus (OS) depth, olfactory bulb (OB) volume, hippocampal sclerosis (HS), insular gyrus area, and corpus amygdala area measurements.
Results: The bilateral OB volume, insular gyrus area and corpus amygdala area were significantly lower in the post-COVID-19 group (PCG) than in the control group (CG) (p<0.05). On the other hand, the bilateral OS depth was significantly higher in PCG than in CG (p<0.05). In the PCG, the insular gyrus area and corpus amygdala area values of the right side were significantly higher than those of the left side (p<0.05). In addition, bilateral HS was detected in five patients in the PCG, right-sided HS in two patients, and left-sided HS in one patient.
Conclusion: The findings of this study have shown that COVID-19 infection, albeit asymptomatic, can trigger neurodegeneration. We believe that in the future COVID-19 infection will play a role in the etiopathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords

Olfactory bulb, insular cortex, hippocampal sclerosis, COVID-19, amygdala, prefrontal cortex

Ethical Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee) of Hitit University School of Medicine Ethics Committee (2022-17-31/03/2022)

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