Publication:

Demyelinating solitary lesion of the central nervous system associated with COVID-19: a case report and literature review

In December 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in China and rapidly spread to the world to become the largest pandemic since the 1918 influenza. The disease has been identified as a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by a novel coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although the typical presentation is respiratory symptoms, reports of neurological involvements are increasing, as more than one-third of patients with COVID-19 develop neurological manifestations. The most frequently reported neurological manifestations in COVID-19 patients were headache, dizziness, taste, and smell impairments, and altered level of consciousness. More specific neurological complications were also reported in literature including acute cerebrovascular complications, seizures, meningoencephalitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Very few studies have shown CNS demyelinating lesions as complications of COVID-19. Current report described a case of a COVID-19 patient with an acute solitary demyelinating lesion in the central nervous system. I also reviewed and summarized the available related cases.