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. 2023 Mar;270(3):1430-1438.
doi: 10.1007/s00415-022-11463-7. Epub 2022 Nov 15.

Assessment of cognitive function, structural brain changes and fatigue 6 months after treatment of neuroborreliosis

Silje Andreassen  1   2 , Elisabeth Margrete Stokke Lindland  3   4 , Mona Kristiansen Beyer  3   5 , Anne Marit Solheim  6   7 , Unn Ljøstad  6   7 , Åse Mygland  6   7   8 , Åslaug Rudjord Lorentzen  6   9 , Harald Reiso  9 , Knut Jørgen Bjuland  10 , Are Hugo Pripp  11   12 , Hanne Flinstad Harbo  3   13 , Gro Christine Christensen Løhaugen  10 , Randi Eikeland  9   14
Affiliations

Assessment of cognitive function, structural brain changes and fatigue 6 months after treatment of neuroborreliosis

Silje Andreassen et al. J Neurol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Complete recovery after adequately treated neuroborreliosis is common, but studies report that some patients experience persistent symptoms like self-reported cognitive problems and fatigue. Persisting symptoms are often termed post-Lyme disease syndrome, of which etiology is not clearly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive function, possible structural changes in brain regions and level of fatigue. We have not found previous studies on neuroborreliosis that use standardized neuropsychological tests and MRI with advanced image processing to investigate if there are subtle regional changes in cortical thickness and brain volumes after treatment.

Methods: We examined 68 patients treated for neuroborreliosis 6 months earlier and 66 healthy controls, with a comprehensive neuropsychological test protocol, quantitative structural MRI analysis of the brain and Fatigue Severity Scale.

Results: We found no differences between the groups in either cognitive function, cortical thickness or brain volumes. The patients had higher score on Fatigue Severity Scale 3.8 vs. 2.9 (p = 0.001), and more patients (25.4%) than controls (5%) had severe fatigue (p = 0.002), but neither mean score nor proportion of patients with severe fatigue differed from findings in the general Norwegian population.

Conclusion: The prognosis regarding cognitive function, brain MRI findings and fatigue after adequately treated neuroborreliosis is favorable.

Keywords: Cognitive; Fatigue; Lyme; MRI; Neuroborreliosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Åslaug R. Lorentzen received minor grant from Sanofi. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of included patients and controls. NP neuropsychological
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cortical thickness maps of 65 patients and 57 controls without (upper panel) and with (lower panel) false discovery rate (FDR) correction. The brain areas with significant differences are shown in color, and the color scale shows dynamic range of the statistical change in p values. Red represents thinner cortex in patients compared with controls, but was not significant after FDR correction. R right, L left
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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