Abstract #1744

Brain Metabolic Changes in COVID-19 Patients: Preliminary Observations.

Akila Weerasekera^1,2, Otto Rapalino¹, Sarah J Moum¹, Katharina Eikermann-Haerter¹, Brian Edlow³, David Fischer¹, Angel Torrado-Carvajal^1,4, Marco L Loggia¹, Shibani Mukerji³, Pamela L Schaefer¹, Ramon Gilberto Gonzalez¹, Michael Lev¹, and Eva-Maria Ratai¹

¹Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ²2A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Boston, MA, United States, ³Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ⁴Medical Image Analysis and Biometry Laboratory, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Here we report for the first time metabolic abnormalities in white matter lesions of COVID-19 patients using MR-spectroscopic imaging. The study compares metabolic changes in COVID-19 patients to those seen in other encephalopathies and a normal control case. Findings include NAA reduction indicating neuronal injury/loss, and choline and myo-inositol elevation indicating demyelination and neuroinflammation, respectively. One COVID-19 patient exhibited pronounced lactate elevation consistent with "silent hypoxia". Other factors may be involved considering the degree of metabolic changes seen in these patients when compared to other COVID-19 cases without similar white matter changes as well as other white matter disorders.

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