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The virus that causes COVID-19 is thought to first attack cells in the respiratory system, resulting in inflammation of the lungs that puts patients at risk for pneumonia and respiratory distress. But the impact of the virus is now documented in other organs and tissues as well. it was felt in other body systems as well. The study’s lead author, Dr. Colbey W. Freeman, of the Penn Department of Radiology in Philadelphia, recalls that “although brain complications are rare, they are an increasingly reported and often devastating consequence of COVID -19.”
The COVID patient with brain injury has pre-existing hypertension or diabetes
The team of Dr. Freeman and the Perelman School of Medicine followed COVID-19 patients evaluated by CT and / or brain MRI during the period from January to April 2020. 81 of the participants underwent altered mental status and neurological deficits focal points such as speech and vision problems. Of those 81 patients who underwent brain scans, 18, or just over one in five, had results considered “urgent or critical,” including brain haemorrhages and stroke.
- At least half of the patients had a history of hypertension and / or type 2 diabetes;
- 3 of the critically event patients died during hospitalization.
Hypertension and type 2 diabetes are therefore Frequently associated with neurological disorders associated with COVID-19: it is the conclusion of the study that reveals a higher rate of hypertensive and / or diabetic participants who developed these complications. However, how to explain these associations, what are the mechanisms involved? The exact mechanisms remain poorly understood and may involve several factors. The most common hypothesis is that of inflammation associated with infection, as the primary trigger of these (and other) neurological effects.
“When your body is in an inflammatory state, it produces all of these cytokines to help mobilize the immune system and encourage it to perform its function. However, in the event of a “cytokine storm” the immune response damages “.
The team continues to monitor the incidence of neurological complications in its COVID-19 patients and intends to conduct a larger prospective study to evaluate delayed, long-term and chronic neurological manifestations.
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