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

IDCases (Jan 2023)

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

Affiliations

Daniel Cromb: 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; Department of Neonatology, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, UK
Tom Finck: 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; Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Munich, Germany
Megan Quirke: 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
Paul Cawley: 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; Department of Neonatology, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, UK; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London, UK
Amy Moran: Department of Neonatology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, London, UK
Olutoyin Banjoko: Department of Neonatology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, London, UK
Mary A Rutherford: 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; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London, UK
Tomoki Arichi: 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; MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King’s College London, London, UK; Paediatric Neurosciences, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, London, UK; Corresponding author: 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.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 32
p. e01796

Abstract

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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

Published in IDCases

ISSN: 2214-2509 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Infectious and parasitic diseases
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/idcases/

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