Preliminary insights suggest abnormal brain metabolism, microstructure, and functionality as neural under-layer of post-acute cognitive dysfunction. While previous works focused on brain correlates of impaired cognition as objectively assessed, in this article the authors investigated long-term neural correlates of subjective cognitive decline in a sample of 58 COVID-19 survivors with a multimodal imaging approach. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) analyses revealed widespread white matter disruption in the sub-group of cognitive complainers compared to the non-complainer one, as indexed by increased axial, radial, and mean diffusivity in several commissural, projection and associative fibres. Likewise, the Multivoxel Pattern Connectivity analysis (MVPA) revealed highly discriminant patterns of functional connectivity in resting-state among the two groups in the right frontal pole and in the middle temporal gyrus, suggestive of inefficient dynamic modulation of frontal brain activity and possible metacognitive dysfunction at rest. The authors underlying that, beyond COVID-19 actual pathophysiological brain processes, their findings point toward brain connectome disruption conceivably translating into clinical post-COVID cognitive symptomatology.
Paolini M, Palladini M, Mazza MG, Colombo F, Vai B, Rovere-Querini P, Falini A, Poletti S, Benedetti F. Brain correlates of subjective cognitive complaints in COVID-19 survivors: A multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2022 Dec 12;68:1-10.