Neurol. praxi 2020; 21(Suppl G) | DOI: 10.36290/neu.2020.121

Neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection (COVID-19)

Pavel Otruba¹, Jan Bardoň¹, Milan Kolář², Lenka Petroušová³, Milan Raška⁴, Richard Salzman⁵, Tomáš Dorňák¹, Petr Hluštík¹, Pavel Hok¹, Lenka Hvizdošová¹, Michaela Kaiserová¹, Michal Král¹, Sandra Kurčová¹, Jan Mareš¹, Zuzana Mateášiková⁵, Kateřina Menšíková¹, Martin Nevrlý¹, Petr Polidar¹, Matouš Rous¹, Zuzana Rous¹, Tereza Svrčinová¹, Daniel Šaňák¹, Tomáš Veverka¹, Miroslav Vaštík¹, Eva Čecháková⁶, Petr Kaňovský¹

¹ Neurologická klinika, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

² Ústav mikrobiologie, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

³ Klinika infekčního lékařství, Fakultní nemocnice Ostrava

⁴ Ústav imunologie, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

⁵ Klinika otorinolaryngologie a chirurgie hlavy a krku, Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

⁶ Radiologická klinika Lékařská fakulta Univerzity Palackého a Fakultní nemocnice Olomouc

In the setting of the current global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, manifested in a number of cases by the COVID-19 disease, the fact that this disease may cause - both directly and indirectly - a number of novel neurological complications has been clearly observed and described; moreover, it can negatively affect the lives of patients with an already diagnosed neurological disease. Some sequelae have been described in larger groups of patients while others in the form of case reports only; further possible complications are instead derived analogically from other similar conditions. The present article summarizes available and up-to-date knowledge on the neurological issues due to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The introduction briefly summarizes the general background of the topic: biological and epidemiological characteristics of the novel type of coronavirus and their infectology implications as well as the human immune response to the novel type of coronavirus. A summary follows of the information on possible complications in discrete neurology subspecialities, not only in terms of neurological involvement as a result of COVID-19, but also in terms of the overall effect of the global pandemic on patients with a pre-existing neurological disease. The individual parts present the current knowledge on COVID-19 with respect to demyelinating diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, peripheral neuropathies, extrapyramidal disorders, and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. The conclusion section summarizes neurology-related complications, i.e. olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions, and possible neuropsychiatric complications.

Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, neurological complications.

Published: December 1, 2020  Show citation