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Open Access 01-10-2020 | SARS-CoV-2 | Correspondence

Correlates of critical illness-related encephalopathy predominate postmortem COVID-19 neuropathology

Authors: Nikolaus Deigendesch, Lara Sironi, Michael Kutza, Sven Wischnewski, Vidmante Fuchs, Jürgen Hench, Angela Frank, Ronny Nienhold, Kirsten D. Mertz, Gieri Cathomas, Matthias S. Matter, Martin Siegemund, Markus Tolnay, Lucas Schirmer, Anne-Katrin Pröbstel, Alexandar Tzankov, Stephan Frank

Published in: Acta Neuropathologica | Issue 4/2020

Excerpt

Infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) primarily lead to upper respiratory tract infection and its sequelae frequently dominate the clinical course of COVID-19 [11, 25]. In addition to the lung, various other organs such as kidneys, gut, and heart can be affected [13, 20, 25]. Initially less noticed, it is now well documented that patients with COVID-19 can clinically present with a variety of neurological symptoms ranging from anosmia and dysgeusia to headache, impaired consciousness, agitation, and corticospinal tract signs [14]. Moreover, COVID-19 patient presentations with acute ischemic stroke, meningoencephalitis, hemorrhagic posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)-like pathology, as well as with diffuse leukoencephalopathy and microhemorrhages are on record [13, 21, 22]. Despite this wide range of neurological affections, it has so far remained unclear whether the reported abnormalities are pathogenetically linked to SARS-CoV-2 or occur coincidentally or in association with critical illness. …

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Title: Correlates of critical illness-related encephalopathy predominate postmortem COVID-19 neuropathology
Authors: Nikolaus Deigendesch
Lara Sironi
Michael Kutza
Sven Wischnewski
Vidmante Fuchs
Jürgen Hench
Angela Frank
Ronny Nienhold
Kirsten D. Mertz
Gieri Cathomas
Matthias S. Matter
Martin Siegemund
Markus Tolnay
Lucas Schirmer
Anne-Katrin Pröbstel
Alexandar Tzankov
Stephan Frank
Publication date: 01-10-2020
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2
COVID-19
Encephalopathy
Published in: Acta Neuropathologica / Issue 4/2020
Print ISSN: 0001-6322
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0533
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-020-02213-y

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

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Correlates of critical illness-related encephalopathy predominate postmortem COVID-19 neuropathology

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Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

Springer Medicine

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