Leonie Zerweck, Uwe Klose, Annerose Mengel, Tobias Hoheisel, Melinda Eikemeier, Vivien Richter, Natalie Sophie Joos, Ulrike Ernemann, Benjamin Bender, Till-Karsten Hauser
{"title":"Cerebrovascular Reactivity Assessed by Breath-Hold Functional MRI in Patients with Neurological Post-COVID-19 Syndrome-A Pilot Study.","authors":"Leonie Zerweck, Uwe Klose, Annerose Mengel, Tobias Hoheisel, Melinda Eikemeier, Vivien Richter, Natalie Sophie Joos, Ulrike Ernemann, Benjamin Bender, Till-Karsten Hauser","doi":"10.3390/neurolint16050075","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Endothelial dysfunction represents a potential pathomechanism of neurological post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). A recent study demonstrated reduced cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in patients with PCS. The aim of this pilot study was to prospectively assess CVR in patients with PCS using breath-hold functional MRI (bh-fMRI). Fourteen patients with neurological PCS and leading symptoms of fatigue/memory issues/concentration disorder (PCS<sub>fmc</sub>), 11 patients with PCS and leading symptoms of myopathy/neuropathy (PCS<sub>mn</sub>), and 17 healthy controls underwent bh-fMRI. Signal change and time to peak (TTP) were assessed globally and in seven regions of interest and compared between the subgroups using one-way ANCOVA adjusting for age, time since infection, Fazekas score, and sex. No significant differences were observed. In PCS patients, the global CVR exhibited a slight, non-significant tendency to be lower compared to healthy controls (PCS<sub>fmc</sub>: 0.78 ± 0.11%, PCS<sub>mn</sub>: 0.84 ± 0.10% and 0.87 ± 0.07%). There was a non-significant trend towards lower global TTP values in the PCS subgroups than in the control group (PCS<sub>fmc</sub>: 26.41 ± 1.39 s, PCS<sub>mn</sub>: 26.32 ± 1.36 s versus 29.52 ± 0.93 s). Endothelial dysfunction does not seem to be the sole pathomechanism of neurological symptoms in PCS. Further studies in larger cohorts are required.</p>","PeriodicalId":19130,"journal":{"name":"Neurology International","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11417792/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neurology International","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/neurolint16050075","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Endothelial dysfunction represents a potential pathomechanism of neurological post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS). A recent study demonstrated reduced cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) in patients with PCS. The aim of this pilot study was to prospectively assess CVR in patients with PCS using breath-hold functional MRI (bh-fMRI). Fourteen patients with neurological PCS and leading symptoms of fatigue/memory issues/concentration disorder (PCSfmc), 11 patients with PCS and leading symptoms of myopathy/neuropathy (PCSmn), and 17 healthy controls underwent bh-fMRI. Signal change and time to peak (TTP) were assessed globally and in seven regions of interest and compared between the subgroups using one-way ANCOVA adjusting for age, time since infection, Fazekas score, and sex. No significant differences were observed. In PCS patients, the global CVR exhibited a slight, non-significant tendency to be lower compared to healthy controls (PCSfmc: 0.78 ± 0.11%, PCSmn: 0.84 ± 0.10% and 0.87 ± 0.07%). There was a non-significant trend towards lower global TTP values in the PCS subgroups than in the control group (PCSfmc: 26.41 ± 1.39 s, PCSmn: 26.32 ± 1.36 s versus 29.52 ± 0.93 s). Endothelial dysfunction does not seem to be the sole pathomechanism of neurological symptoms in PCS. Further studies in larger cohorts are required.