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Scardua-Silva L, Amorim da Costa B, Karmann Aventurato Í, Batista Joao R, Machado de Campos B, Rabelo de Brito M, Bechelli JF, Santos Silva LC, Ferreira Dos Santos A, Koutsodontis Machado Alvim M, Vieira Nunes Ludwig G, Rocha C, Kaue Alves Silva Souza T, Mendes MJ, Waku T, de Oliveira Boldrini V, Silva Brunetti N, Nora Baptista S, da Silva Schmitt G, Duarte de Sousa JG, Marchiori de Oliveira Cardoso TA, Schwambach Vieira A, Barbosa Santos LM, Dos Santos Farias A, Nogueira MH, Cendes F, Lin Yasuda C. Microstructural brain abnormalities, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction after mild COVID-19. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1758. [PMID: 38242927 PMCID: PMC10798999 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52005-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Although some studies have shown neuroimaging and neuropsychological alterations in post-COVID-19 patients, fewer combined neuroimaging and neuropsychology evaluations of individuals who presented a mild acute infection. Here we investigated cognitive dysfunction and brain changes in a group of mildly infected individuals. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 97 consecutive subjects (median age of 41 years) without current or history of psychiatric symptoms (including anxiety and depression) after a mild infection, with a median of 79 days (and mean of 97 days) after diagnosis of COVID-19. We performed semi-structured interviews, neurological examinations, 3T-MRI scans, and neuropsychological assessments. For MRI analyses, we included a group of non-infected 77 controls. The MRI study included white matter (WM) investigation with diffusion tensor images (DTI) and functional connectivity with resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI). The patients reported memory loss (36%), fatigue (31%) and headache (29%). The quantitative analyses confirmed symptoms of fatigue (83% of participants), excessive somnolence (35%), impaired phonemic verbal fluency (21%), impaired verbal categorical fluency (13%) and impaired logical memory immediate recall (16%). The WM analyses with DTI revealed higher axial diffusivity values in post-infected patients compared to controls. Compared to controls, there were no significant differences in the functional connectivity of the posterior cingulum cortex. There were no significant correlations between neuropsychological scores and neuroimaging features (including DTI and RS-fMRI). Our results suggest persistent cognitive impairment and subtle white matter abnormalities in individuals mildly infected without anxiety or depression symptoms. The longitudinal analyses will clarify whether these alterations are temporary or permanent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Scardua-Silva
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Beatriz Amorim da Costa
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Ítalo Karmann Aventurato
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Rafael Batista Joao
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Brunno Machado de Campos
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Mariana Rabelo de Brito
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - José Flávio Bechelli
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Leila Camila Santos Silva
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Alan Ferreira Dos Santos
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Marina Koutsodontis Machado Alvim
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Guilherme Vieira Nunes Ludwig
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Cristiane Rocha
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Thierry Kaue Alves Silva Souza
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Maria Julia Mendes
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Takeshi Waku
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | | | | | - Sophia Nora Baptista
- Autoimmune Research Lab, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | | | | | | | - André Schwambach Vieira
- Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
- Autoimmune Research Lab, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | | | | | - Mateus Henrique Nogueira
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
| | - Fernando Cendes
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
| | - Clarissa Lin Yasuda
- Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
- Department of Neurology, Clinics Hospital, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
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Catalogna M, Sasson E, Hadanny A, Parag Y, Zilberman-Itskovich S, Efrati S. Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on functional and structural connectivity in post-COVID-19 condition patients: A randomized, sham-controlled trial. Neuroimage Clin 2022; 36:103218. [PMID: 36208548 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Post-COVID-19 condition refers to a range of persisting physical, neurocognitive, and neuropsychological symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Abnormalities in brain connectivity were found in recovered patients compared to non-infected controls. This study aims to evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on brain connectivity in post-COVID-19 patients. METHODS In this randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind trial, 73 patients were randomized to receive 40 daily sessions of HBOT (n = 37) or sham treatment (n = 36). We examined pre- and post-treatment resting-state brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans to evaluate functional and structural connectivity changes, which were correlated to cognitive and psychological distress measures. RESULTS The ROI-to-ROI analysis revealed decreased internetwork connectivity in the HBOT group which was negatively correlated to improvements in attention and executive function scores (p < 0.001). Significant group-by-time interactions were demonstrated in the right hippocampal resting state function connectivity (rsFC) in the medial prefrontal cortex (PFWE = 0.002). Seed-to-voxel analysis also revealed a negative correlation in the brief symptom inventory (BSI-18) score and in the rsFC between the amygdala seed, the angular gyrus, and the primary sensory motor area (PFWE = 0.012, 0.002). Positive correlations were found between the BSI-18 score and the left insular cortex seed and FPN (angular gyrus) (PFWE < 0.0001). Tractography based structural connectivity analysis showed a significant group-by-time interaction in the fractional anisotropy (FA) of left amygdala tracts (F = 7.81, P = 0.007). The efficacy measure had significant group-by-time interactions (F = 5.98, p = 0.017) in the amygdala circuit. CONCLUSIONS This study indicates that HBOT improves disruptions in white matter tracts and alters the functional connectivity organization of neural pathways attributed to cognitive and emotional recovery in post-COVID-19 patients. This study also highlights the potential of structural and functional connectivity analysis as a promising treatment response monitoring tool.
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