NEJM: Revealing Neurological Pathology Characteristics Associated with SARS in Patients With Severe COVID-19

May 12, 2020 /PRNewswireBIOON/- According to a letter to the editor published recently in New England Journal of Medicine, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by COVID-19 is associated with neurological characteristics, including encephalopathy, restlessness, and confusionDrJulie Helms, M.D., from the University Hospital of Strasbourg, France, and colleagues reported the neurological characteristics of a COVID-19 patient who looked at 58 patients in 64 ARDS patients hospitalized for COVID-19The results of neurological examinations were recorded at the time of admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before and during the cessation of sedatives and neuromuscular blockers (8 and 39 cases, respectively)image: NEJMresearchers found that 40 patients (69 percent) developed restlessness when they stopped using neuromuscular blockersAccording to the ICU confusion assessment method, 26 of the 40 patients experienced confusionIn 39 patients (67%) there was diffuse cortical spinal cord symptoms, tendon reflexes, ankle cramps, and enhanced reflexes of the two-sided foot extension muscleOne-third of the 45 discharged patients suffer from performance disorder syndrome, which is characterized by inattention, disorientation, or a lack of responsive tissue to commandThirteen patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain for unexplained brain disease characteristicsIn 8 patients, the gap between the soft meninges was enhanced, 11 patients had profusion imaging, and the double-sided forehead was low perfusion"There is no data to determine which of these characteristics are caused by severely related encephalopathy, cytokines, or the effects or discontinuation of drugs, and which are caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus infection," the authors wrote"
one author revealed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry(BioValleyBioon.com)Reference: Neurologicfeatures tiedto acutethachthysyndromeinsevereCO-19-
Julie Helmsetal.
NeurologyFeatureSinSevereSARS-CoV-2Infection , New England Journal of Medicine (2020) DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2008597