The literature on neurological manifestations in COVID-19 patients has been rapidly increasing with the pandemic. However, data on CNS inflammatory disorders in COVID-19 are still evolving. In this article the authors performed a literature review of CNS inflammatory disorders associated with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). They screened all articles resulting from a search of PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus, using the keywords; “SARS-CoV-2 and neurological complication”, “SARS-CoV-2 and CNS Complication” looking for reports of transverse myelitis, longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis, neuromyelitis optica, myelitis, Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Disorder (MOGAD), Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM), Acute Hemorrhagic Necrotizing Encephalitis/Acute Hemorrhagic Leukoencephalitis (AHNE/AHLE), Cytotoxic lesion of the Corpus Callosum/Mild Encephalopathy Reversible Splenium Lesion(CLOCC/MERS) and Optic neuritis published between December 01, 2019 and March 15, 2021. The literature search revealed 43 patients meeting the diagnosis of myelitis, including Transverse Myelitis, ADEM, AHNE/AHLE or CLOCC/MERS and Optic neuritis. Acute myelitis was most commonly associated with non-severe COVID-19 and all reported cases of AHNE/AHLE had severe COVID-19 infection. Based on IDSA/ATS criteria of either requiring vasopressor for septic shock or mechanical ventilation, 49% (n = 18) patients were considered to have a severe COVID infection. There were 7 (n = 19%) fatalities.
The authors concluded that this observational review study reveals that although rare, myelitis, ADEM, AHNE and CLOCC can be associated with COVID-19 infection. Further studies using MRI imaging and CSF analysis in early diagnosis and intervention of these disorders are warranted.
Sriwastava S, Tandon M, Podury S, Prasad A, Wen S, Guthrie G, Kakara M, Jaiswal S, Subedi R, Elkhooly M, Lisak RP. COVID-19 and neuroinflammation: a literature review of relevant neuroimaging and CSF markers in central nervous system inflammatory disorders from SARS-COV2. J Neurol. 2021 May 19:1–31. doi: 10.1007/s00415-021-10611-9