<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm global healthcare systems. While the disease primarily causes pulmonary complications, reports of central nervous system (CNS) involvement have recently emerged ranging from encephalopathy to stroke. This raises a practical dilemma for clinicians as to when to pursue neuroimaging and lumbar tap with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms. We present a case of an encephalopathic patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 with no pulmonary symptoms. We propose a three-tier risk stratification for CNS COVID-19 aiming to help clinicians to decide which patients should undergo CSF analysis. The neurological examination remains an integral component of screening and evaluating patients for COVID-19 considering the range of emerging CNS complications.</p></abstract>

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm global healthcare systems. While the disease primarily causes pulmonary complications, reports of central nervous system (CNS) involvement have recently emerged ranging from encephalopathy to stroke. This raises a practical dilemma for clinicians as to when to pursue neuroimaging and lumbar tap with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms. We present a case of an encephalopathic patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 with no pulmonary symptoms. We propose a three-tier risk stratification for CNS COVID-19 aiming to help clinicians to decide which patients should undergo CSF analysis. The neurological examination remains an integral component of screening and evaluating patients for COVID-19 considering the range of emerging CNS complications.

Three-tier stratification for CNS COVID-19 to help decide which patients should undergo lumbar puncture with CSF analysis: a case report and literature review

Departments of Neuroscience and Health Science Research

Romanian Journal of Internal Medicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm global healthcare systems. While the disease primarily causes pulmonary complications, reports of central nervous...

Three-tier stratification for CNS COVID-19 to help decide which patients should undergo lumbar puncture with CSF analysis: a case report and literature review

Publié en ligne: 05 mars 2021

Pages: 88 - 92

Reçu: 17 sept. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjim-2020-0031

Mots clés
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, encephalitis, lumbar puncture, cerebral spinal fluid

© 2021 Jahanavi M. Ramakrishna et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Three-tier stratification for CNS COVID-19 to help decide which patients should undergo lumbar puncture with CSF analysis: a case report and literature review

Publié en ligne: 05 mars 2021

Pages: 88 - 92

Reçu: 17 sept. 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjim-2020-0031

Mots clésCOVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, encephalitis, lumbar puncture, cerebral spinal fluid

© 2021 Jahanavi M. Ramakrishna et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, encephalitis, lumbar puncture, cerebral spinal fluid