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Abstract #1730

Two-site 7T 1H-MRS study in brainstem of "long COVID" patients

Carina Graf1, William T Clarke2, Catarina Rua1, Virginia FJ Newcombe1,3, Victoria C Lupson1, Anne Manktelow3, Doris A Chatfield1, Stephen J Sawcer4, Joanne G Outtrim3, Karen Ersche5, Edward T Bullmore5, David K Menon3, Sarah L Finnegan6, Rory McDonald6, Stuart Clare6, Martyn Ezra6, Christopher T Rodgers1, Kyle Pattinson6, and James B Rowe4,5,7,8,9
1Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 3Divison of Anaesthesia, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 4Neurology Unit, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 5Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 6Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, 7Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 8MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 9on behalf of the Cambridge NeuroCOVID group and the CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration (www.wbic.cam.ac.uk/neuro-covid/), Cambridge, United Kingdom

SARS-CoV-2 attacks the central nervous system. A particularly nasty symptom of COVID-19 is a feeling of breathlessness that can persist for months after acute infection has subsided (“long COVID”). Based on early MRI observations in hospitalised patients, we hypothesised that COVID-19 may cause inflammation or degeneration of the brainstem where the respiratory control centres are located, leading to these symptoms. In this study we develop a protocol for 1H-MRS in the brainstem on two models of ultra-high field 7T MRI scanner. We show feasibility to profile brainstem neurochemistry in anticipation of a multi-site clinical study across the UK’s 7T centres.

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