New MRI study reveals how brain changes in long-Covid patients

People with longCovid exhibit patterns of changes in the brain that are different from fully recovered Covid19 patients according to researchThe results based on diffusion microstructure imaging DMI a novel MRI technique showed no brain volume loss or any other lesions that might explain the symptoms of long CovidHowever Covid infection induced a specific pattern of microstructural changes in various brain regions and this pattern differed between those who had long Covid and those who did notTo the best of our knowledge this is the first study comparing patients with long Covid to both a group without history of Covid19 and a group that went through a Covid19 infection but is subjectively unimpaired said Alexander Rau from the Departments of Neuroradiology and Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Freiburg in Freiburg GermanyThis study allows for an in vivo insight on the impact of Covid19 on the brainHere we noted gray matter alterations in both patients with longCovid and those unimpaired after a Covid19 infection Interestingly we not only noted widespread microstructural alterations in patients with long Covid but also in those unimpaired after having contracted Covid19 Rau saidThe findings also revealed a correlation between microstructural changes and symptomspecific brain networks associated with impaired cognition sense of smell and fatigueExpression of postCovid symptoms was associated with specific affected cerebral networks suggesting a pathophysiological basis of this syndrome Rau saidFor the study the team compared MRI brain scans of three groups 89 patients with long Covid 38 patients that had contracted Covid19 but did not report any subjective longterm symptoms and 46 healthy controls with no history of Covid19The researchers first compared the cerebral macrostructure of these three groups to test for atrophy or any other abnormalities Next they used DMI to gain a deeper insight into the brainDMI looks at the movement of water molecules in tissues By studying how water molecules move in different directions and at various speeds DMI can provide detailed information on the microstructure of the brain It can detect even very small changes in the brain not detectable with conventional MRIThe study will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America RSNA in ChicagoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever