Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jun:88:219-225.
doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2021.04.001. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Post-COVID 19 neurological syndrome: Implications for sequelae's treatment

William Camargo-Martínez  1 , Ivan Lozada-Martínez  2 , Angie Escobar-Collazos  1 , Aura Navarro-Coronado  1 , Luis Moscote-Salazar  3 , Alfonso Pacheco-Hernández  4 , Tariq Janjua  5 , Pilar Bosque-Varela  6
Affiliations
Review

Post-COVID 19 neurological syndrome: Implications for sequelae's treatment

William Camargo-Martínez et al. J Clin Neurosci. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Study design Literature review.

Objectives: Describe the implications of post-COVID syndrome due to neurological sequelae including treatment and the differences that may exist between this group of patients and those who present these events not associated with COVID-19.

Methods: A non-systematic review of the literature was carried out in PubMed and Science Direct databases, using the keywords "Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome"; "Neurological complications"; "Neurologic Manifestations" "COVID-19″ and "Rehabilitation", as well as synonyms, which were combined with the operators "AND" and "OR".

Results: The COVID-19 viral caustive agent, SARS-CoV-2, has a high affinity for human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor on type II pneumocytes. This receptor is also expressed in neurons and glial cells. Based on the foregoing and other not so clear mechanisms, it is stated that SARS-CoV-2 has tropism for the nervous system, being evident through the neurological manifestations observed in patients with mild, moderate and severe phenotype of the disease such as anosmia, ageusia, headache, cerebrovascular accidents, Guillain-Barré syndrome, seizures, and encephalopathy. This can generate severe sequelae and even fatal outcomes in those affected.

Conclusions: Neurological complications caused by COVID-19 are frequent and represent a risk that compromises the functional capacity and the life of patients. The suspicion of these conditions, the strict control of metabolic alterations and cardiovascular risk factors, the effective and safe treatment of these entities, are a current challenge throughout the pandemic. The rehabilitation process in these patients is a challenge. This is due to the limitations generated by multi-organ damage, as well as risk of brain death.

Keywords: COVID-19; Nervous system diseases; Neurologic manifestations; Neurological rehabilitation; Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

    1. Monroy-Gómez J, Torres-Fernández O. Effects of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) on the nervous system. What can we expect from SARS -CoV-2?. Biomedica 2020; 40(S-2):173–9. 10.7705/biomedica.5682 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Moreno-Pérez O, Merino E, Leon-Ramirez JM, Andres M, Ramos JM, Arenas-Jiménez J, et al. Post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome. Incidence and risk factors: a Mediterranean cohort study. J Infect 2021; S0163-4453(21)00009-8. 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.01.004 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wijeratne T., Crewther S. Post-COVID 19 Neurological Syndrome (PCNS); a novel syndrome with challenges for the global neurology community. J Neurol Sci. 2020;419:117179. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2020.117179. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sharifian-Dorche M., Huot P., Osherov M., Wen D., Saveriano A., Giacomini P.S., et al. Neurological complications of coronavirus infection; a comparative review and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Neurol Sci. 2020;417:117085. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2020.117085. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Demeco A, Marotta N, Barletta M, Pino I, Marinaro C, Petraroli A, et al. Rehabilitation of patients post-COVID-19 infection: a literature review. J Int Med Res. 2020;48(8):300060520948382. 10.1177/0300060520948382 - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms