Brain autopsies of critically ill COVID-19 patients demonstrate heterogeneous profile of acute vascular injury, inflammation and age-linked chronic brain diseases (17 December 2022)

Summary

This study in the journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications examined neuropathological findings of patients who died following hospitalisation in an intensive care unit with Covid-19. The researchers conducted brain autopsy on 20 people who had died, followed by ex-vivo imaging and dissection. They found that acute tissue injuries and microglial activation were the most common abnormalities discovered in Covid-19 brains. They also found evidence of encephalitis-like changes despite the lack of detectable virus. The majority of older subjects showed age-related brain conditions even in the absence of known neurologic disease. The findings of this study suggest that acute brain injury alongside common pre-existing brain disease may put older subjects at higher risk of post-Covid neurological issues.