Elias P. Casula , Romina Esposito , Sabrina Dezi , Paola Ortelli , Luca Sebastianelli , Davide Ferrazzoli , Leopold Saltuari , Valentina Pezzopane , Ilaria Borghi , Lorenzo Rocchi , Valentina Ajello , Eugen Trinka , Antonio Oliviero , Giacomo Koch , Viviana Versace
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
Persistent fatigue is a major symptom of the so-called ’long-COVID syndrome’, but the pathophysiological processes that cause it remain unclear.
We hypothesized that fatigue after COVID-19 would be associated with altered cortical activity in premotor and motor regions.
Methods
We used transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with EEG (TMS-EEG) to explore the neural oscillatory activity of the left primary motor area (l-M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA) in a group of sixteen post-COVID patients complaining of lingering fatigue as compared to a sample of age-matched healthy controls. Perceived fatigue was assessed with the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Fatigue Rating Scale (FRS).
Results
Post-COVID patients showed a remarkable reduction of beta frequency in both areas. Correlation analysis exploring linear relation between neurophysiological and clinical measures revealed a significant inverse correlation between the individual level of beta oscillations evoked by TMS of SMA with the individual scores in the FRS (r(15) = -0.596; p = 0.012).
Conclusions
Post-COVID fatigue is associated with a reduction of TMS-evoked beta oscillatory activity in SMA.
Significance
TMS-EEG could be used to identify early alterations of cortical oscillatory activity that could be related to the COVID impact in central fatigue.
期刊介绍:
As of January 1999, The journal Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, and its two sections Electromyography and Motor Control and Evoked Potentials have amalgamated to become this journal - Clinical Neurophysiology.
Clinical Neurophysiology is the official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Brazilian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Czech Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Italian Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the International Society of Intraoperative Neurophysiology.The journal is dedicated to fostering research and disseminating information on all aspects of both normal and abnormal functioning of the nervous system. The key aim of the publication is to disseminate scholarly reports on the pathophysiology underlying diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system of human patients. Clinical trials that use neurophysiological measures to document change are encouraged, as are manuscripts reporting data on integrated neuroimaging of central nervous function including, but not limited to, functional MRI, MEG, EEG, PET and other neuroimaging modalities.