ArticleViruses2023
Multifactorial White Matter Damage in the Acute Phase and Pre-Existing Conditions May Drive Cognitive Dysfunction after SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Neuropathology-Based Evidence.
Article in Viruses, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human brain matters: Navigating the neuropathology of COVID-19.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Review
- From HIV to SARS-CoV-2 associated neurological disorder ("HAND" to "SAND"): Viral infection as a "time-bomb" for the aging brain.Neuroscience applied · 2026Review
- Review
- Impact of COVID-19 infection on the sleep of infants and toddlers.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Cognitive Sequelae of COVID-19: Mechanistic Insights and Therapeutic Approaches.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Review
- "Spanish flu," encephalitis lethargica, and COVID-19: Progress made, lessons learned, and directions for future research.European journal of neurology · 2024Review
- Precision nutrition to reset virus-induced human metabolic reprogramming and dysregulation (HMRD) in long-COVID.NPJ science of food · 2024Review
- Proteomic and transcriptomic profiling of brainstem, cerebellum and olfactory tissues in early- and late-phase COVID-19.Nature neuroscience · 2024Article
- The neurobiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2024Review
- On the merits and potential of advanced neuroimaging techniques in COVID-19: A scoping review.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2024Article
- Comparative Analysis of the Prevalence of Dysphagia in Patients with Mild COVID-19 and Those with Aspiration Pneumonia Alone: Findings of the Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- [S1 guidelines for the management of postviral conditions using the example of post-COVID-19].Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2023Article
- Neuropathology in COVID-19 autopsies is defined by microglial activation and lesions of the white matter with emphasis in cerebellar and brain stem areas.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
51 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms underlying acute and long-term neurological symptoms after COVID-19. Neuropathological studies can contribute to a better understanding of some of these mechanisms.
methodsWe conducted a detailed postmortem neuropathological analysis of 32 patients who died due to COVID-19 during 2020 and 2021 in Austria.
resultsAll cases showed diffuse white matter damage with a diffuse microglial activation of a variable severity, including one case of hemorrhagic leukoencephalopathy. Some cases revealed mild inflammatory changes, including olfactory neuritis (25%), nodular brainstem encephalitis (31%), and cranial nerve neuritis (6%), which were similar to those observed in non-COVID-19 severely ill patients. One previously immunosuppressed patient developed acute herpes simplex encephalitis. Acute vascular pathologies (acute infarcts 22%, vascular thrombosis 12%, diffuse hypoxic-ischemic brain damage 40%) and pre-existing small vessel diseases (34%) were frequent findings. Moreover, silent neurodegenerative pathologies in elderly persons were common (AD neuropathologic changes 32%, age-related neuronal and glial tau pathologies 22%, Lewy bodies 9%, argyrophilic grain disease 12.5%, TDP43 pathology 6%).
conclusionsOur results support some previous neuropathological findings of apparently multifactorial and most likely indirect brain damage in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection rather than virus-specific damage, and they are in line with the recent experimental data on SARS-CoV-2-related diffuse white matter damage, microglial activation, and cytokine release.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.