Pachipala Sudheer, Ayush Agarwal, V. Vishnu, A. Pandit, D. Vibha, R. Bhatia, M. Srivastava
{"title":"Neuroimaging in COVID-19 Patients on Mechanical Ventilation Receiving Sedation: Insight Beyond Diagnosis: A Case Series","authors":"Pachipala Sudheer, Ayush Agarwal, V. Vishnu, A. Pandit, D. Vibha, R. Bhatia, M. Srivastava","doi":"10.1177/25166085221085780","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Patients with severe COVID-19 are at risk of thrombotic complications such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, and stroke. The incidence of strokes following COVID-19 is reported to be around 1.2%. There has been increased incidence with COVID-19 of large vessel strokes, especially in young patients without any known vascular risk factors. We reported four patients with severe COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome where stroke was diagnosed following neuroimaging. All the patients were on ventilatory assistance and supportive treatment when stroke was diagnosed. They had received sedation and paralytics during mechanical ventilation. Poor response to stimulation and nonresponsiveness after wearing off sedation prompted neuroimaging in these patients, which revealed stroke. Incidentally, all these patients had hypernatremia when stroke was diagnosed. This case series suggests that stroke should be considered a possible cause in all COVID-19 patients presenting with abnormal or altered sensorium.","PeriodicalId":93323,"journal":{"name":"Journal of stroke medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of stroke medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/25166085221085780","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Patients with severe COVID-19 are at risk of thrombotic complications such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, and stroke. The incidence of strokes following COVID-19 is reported to be around 1.2%. There has been increased incidence with COVID-19 of large vessel strokes, especially in young patients without any known vascular risk factors. We reported four patients with severe COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome where stroke was diagnosed following neuroimaging. All the patients were on ventilatory assistance and supportive treatment when stroke was diagnosed. They had received sedation and paralytics during mechanical ventilation. Poor response to stimulation and nonresponsiveness after wearing off sedation prompted neuroimaging in these patients, which revealed stroke. Incidentally, all these patients had hypernatremia when stroke was diagnosed. This case series suggests that stroke should be considered a possible cause in all COVID-19 patients presenting with abnormal or altered sensorium.