Effect of Post-COVID-19 on Brain Volume and Glucose Metabolism: Influence of Time Since Infection and Fatigue Status

• Published in: Brain sciences Vol. 13; no. 4; p. 675
• Main Authors: Deters, Justin R, Fietsam, Alexandra C, Gander, Phillip E, Boles Ponto, Laura L, Rudroff, Thorsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-04-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Atrophy; Brain; brain volume; Cognitive ability; Comparative analysis; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Dextrose; Fatigue; FDG-PET; Globus pallidus; Glucose; Glucose metabolism; Health aspects; Infections; Investigations; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Metabolism; Neuroimaging; neuroimaging in post-COVID-19; Pandemics; Physiological aspects; Positron emission tomography; post-COVID-19; Putamen; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Thalamus; Tomography; FDG-PET; post-COVID-19; fatigue; neuroimaging in post-COVID-19; brain volume
• ISSN: 2076-3425; 2076-3425
• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13040675

Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) fatigue is typically most severe <6 months post-infection. Combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with the glucose analog [
F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) provides a comprehensive overview of the effects of PCS on regional brain volumes and metabolism, respectively. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate differences in MRI/PET outcomes between people < 6 months (N = 18, 11 female) and > 6 months (N = 15, 6 female) after COVID-19. The secondary purpose was to assess if any differences in MRI/PET outcomes were associated with fatigue symptoms. Subjects > 6 months showed smaller volumes in the putamen, pallidum, and thalamus compared to subjects < 6 months. In subjects > 6 months, fatigued subjects had smaller volumes in frontal areas compared to non-fatigued subjects. Moreover, worse fatigue was associated with smaller volumes in several frontal areas in subjects > 6 months. The results revealed no brain metabolism differences between subjects > 6 and < 6 months. However, both groups exhibited both regional hypo- and hypermetabolism compared to a normative database. These results suggest that PCS may alter regional brain volumes but not metabolism in people > 6 months, particularly those experiencing fatigue symptoms.