Brain white-matter changes associated with symptomatic acute COVID-19 infection in the neonatal period

Daniel Cromb; Tom Finck; Megan Quirke; Paul Cawley; Amy Moran; Olutoyin Banjoko; Mary A Rutherford; Tomoki Arichi

doi:10.1016/j.idcr.2023.e01796

Brain white-matter changes associated with symptomatic acute COVID-19 infection in the neonatal period

IDCases. 2023 May 8:32:e01796. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2023.e01796. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Daniel Cromb^{1

2}, Tom Finck^{1

3}, Megan Quirke¹, Paul Cawley^{1

2

4}, Amy Moran⁵, Olutoyin Banjoko⁵, Mary A Rutherford^{1

4}, Tomoki Arichi^{1

4

6}

Affiliations

¹ Centre for the Developing Brain, Department of Perinatal Imaging and Health, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.
² Department of Neonatology, Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, UK.
³ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Munich, Germany.
⁴ MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, UK.
⁵ Department of Neonatology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, London, UK.
⁶ Paediatric Neurosciences, Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, UK.

Abstract

We report an important case of periventricular white matter damage in a 1-month-old infant, demonstrated on high quality structural (T2) and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The infant was born at term following an uneventful pregnancy and discharged home shortly after, but was brought to the paediatric emergency department five days after birth with seizures and respiratory distress, testing positive for COVID-19 infection on PCR. These images highlight the need to consider brain MRI in all infants with symptomatic SARS-Cov-2 infection, and show how this infection can lead to extensive white matter damage in the context of multisystem inflammation.

Keywords: COVID; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mri; NEONATOLOGY; Neonatal intensive care; Neonatal neurology.

Abstract

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