Abstract #2079

Altered Volumes of the Limbic Structures in COVID-19 Patients with neuroPASC revealed by Ultrahigh Field 7T MRI

Shams Rashid^1,2, Sera Saju¹, Oleksandr Khegai¹, Nathalie Jette³, Puneet Belani¹, Puneet Pawha¹, Claudia Kirsch¹, Alan Seifert^1,2, Yijuan Zhu¹, Jacqueline Becker⁴, Bradley Delman¹, and Priti Balchandani^1,2

¹Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States, ²BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States, ³Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States, ⁴General Internal Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Infectious Disease, COVID-19

Motivation: Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 of neurological origin (neuroPASC), such as brain fog and anxiety, are not well understood.

Goal(s): To study volumetric changes in the brain’s limbic structures in COVID-19 patients with neuroPASC such as brain fog.

Approach: 29 COVID-19 patients with neuroPASC and 29 matched controls underwent ultrahigh field brain MRI at 7T. Hippocampal subfields and amygdala subnuclei were segmented with FreeSurfer and studied across neuroPASC subgroups.

Results: Several subunit volumes were significantly decreased in COVID patients compared to controls across neuroPASC subgroups. Sex-based differences were also present.

Impact: There may be subtle changes in the volumes of the brain’s limbic structures in COVID patients with neuroPASC compared to controls. These changes may be related to neuroPASC symptoms and may depend on sex differences.

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