Miskowiak Kamilla W, Bech Johanne L, Henriksen Alexander Cuculiza, Johnsen Stine, Podlekareva Daria, Marner Lisbeth
Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, DK-1353 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Neurocognition and Emotion in Affective Disorders Centre (NEAD), Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Brain Sci. 2022 Dec 22;13(1):23. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13010023.
Common long-term sequelae after COVID-19 include fatigue and cognitive impairment. Although symptoms interfere with daily living, the underlying pathology is largely unknown. Previous studies report relative hypometabolism in frontal, limbic and cerebellar regions suggesting focal brain involvement. We aimed to determine whether absolute hypometabolism was present and correlated to same day standardized neurocognitive testing.
Fourteen patients included from a long COVID clinic had cognitive testing and quantitative dynamic [F]FDG PET of the brain on the same day to correlate cognitive function to metabolic glucose rate.
We found no hypometabolism in frontal, limbic and cerebellar regions in cognitively impaired relative to cognitive intact patients. In contrast, the cognitive impaired patients showed higher cerebellar metabolism ( = 0.03), which correlated with more severe deficits in working memory and executive function ( = 0.03).
Hypermetabolism in the cerebellum may reflect inefficient brain processing and play a role in cognitive impairments after COVID-19.
新冠病毒感染后常见的长期后遗症包括疲劳和认知障碍。尽管这些症状会干扰日常生活，但其潜在病理机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。先前的研究报告称，额叶、边缘叶和小脑区域存在相对代谢减退，提示脑部有局灶性受累。我们旨在确定是否存在绝对代谢减退，并将其与同一天进行的标准化神经认知测试相关联。
从一家新冠后长期门诊纳入了14名患者，他们在同一天接受了认知测试和脑部定量动态[F]氟代脱氧葡萄糖正电子发射断层扫描（PET），以将认知功能与代谢葡萄糖率相关联。
我们发现，与认知功能正常的患者相比，认知受损患者的额叶、边缘叶和小脑区域没有代谢减退。相反，认知受损患者的小脑代谢较高（P = 0.03），这与工作记忆和执行功能方面更严重的缺陷相关（P = 0.03）。
小脑代谢亢进可能反映了大脑处理效率低下，并在新冠病毒感染后的认知障碍中起作用。
