Physical Brain Changes Detected in People Who Had COVID-19 Infection

As the world slowly returns to normal pre-pandemic and is learning to live with COVID-19, scientists still have many unanswered questions on how the infection affects not only the body but also the brain. Research on COVID-19 does not only involve studying when people are sick but also how it affects them in the long term.

A new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America reports significant physical changes in the brain among people who had COVID-19 infection in the past.

COVID-19 Survivors Underwent MRI Scans Six Months After Recovery

Researchers used a special type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to uncover brain changes in patients up to six months after recovering from COVID-19 infection, the press release reports.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that about 1 in 5 adults will develop long-term effects from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, wherein these neurological symptoms include difficulty thinking or concentrating, headaches, sleep problems, lightheadedness, change in smell or taste, and depression or anxiety.

But most studies about long COVID focus on the lasting consequences in the heart, lungs, or other organs. For the new study, researchers used susceptibility-weighted imaging to assess COVID-19's effects on the brain.

They are testing the magnetic susceptibility of the brain to see how much blood, iron, and calcium will be magnetized during MRI to detect and monitor neurologic conditions, like microbleeds, vascular malformations, brain tumors, and stroke.

Study co-author Sapna S. Mishra, a Ph.D. candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, said that it has not been done before in group-level studies and that their research highlights this to report significant abnormalities in COVID-19 survivors.

Their participants consist of 46 COVID-recovered patients and 30 healthy controls. The first group underwent an MRI scan after six months of recovery. Mishra said that magnetic susceptibility in certain brain regions may indicate compositional changes, especially as they may reflect the presence of abnormal quantities of pragmatic compounds, while lower susceptibility may be caused by calcification or lack of pragmatic compounds.

MRI Scans Show COVID-19 Significantly Changes the Brain

According to Time magazine, the team found that most people who recovered from COVID-19 have changes in the circulation of tiny blood vessels in the brain's frontal lobe. It is the part of the brain involved in higher-order cognitive skills, like voluntary movements and language. On the other hand, the control group showed reduced circulation in these microvessels.

Mishra noted in the press release that the clusters obtained in the frontal lobe show difference in the white matter, which are regions of the brain linked to fatigue, insomnia, depression, headaches, and cognitive problems.

Moreover, they found significant differences in the right central diencephalon region of the brain stem. This region is linked to many crucial bodily functions, such as the release of hormones, relaying sensory and motor signals, and regulating the circadian rhythm.

The findings highlight the long-term effects of coronavirus even after months of recovering from the infection. Although the study offers only a small window to post-COVID-19 complications, researchers believe that a longitudinal study will elucidate any permanent damage if there is any.

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