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. 2022 Aug 1;41(8):663-665.
doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000003578. Epub 2022 Jul 13.

Orbito-Frontal Cortex Hypometabolism in Children With Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID): A Preliminary Experience

Fabrizio Cocciolillo  1 , Daniela Di Giuda  1   2 , Rosa Morello  3 , Cristina De Rose  3 , Piero Valentini  3 , Danilo Buonsenso  3   4
Affiliations

Orbito-Frontal Cortex Hypometabolism in Children With Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID): A Preliminary Experience

Fabrizio Cocciolillo et al. Pediatr Infect Dis J. .

Abstract

We describe 3 children with new-onset neurocognitive problems after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), that showed, at the brain [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography, hypometabolism in the left orbito-frontal region. The voxel-wise analysis confirmed a cluster of hypometabolic voxels in this region with a peak at -18/46/-4mm (179 voxels, T-Score 8.1). These findings may explain neurocognitive symptoms that some children develop after COVID-19 and require further investigations.

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Conflict of interest statement

This study is part of a larger study funded by Pfizer non-competitive grant, granted to. D.B. for the definition of long-term outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children. The funder had no role in the development of the project nor in the interpretation of results. Other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Fused PET/CT (A) and PET (B) axial slices showing a mild hypometabolism in the left orbitofrontal cortex (red arrow) in patient 1.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Surface render (A) and axial Magnetic Resonance (MR) slices (B) showing SPM analysis results. The colored areas indicate the locations where the voxel values of the patients are significantly hypometabolic compared to the healthy control group (P < 0.001). The t-value is represented by the brightness of the color.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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