Long-Term Effects of COVID-19: Heathline Magazine

COVID-19 might affect the brain stem

“Some of the data that we’re getting now from the China studies, one study that was just publishedTrusted Source in JAMA Neurology showed that 36.4 percent of patients had neurologic issues,” said Dr. Sheri Dewan, neurosurgeon at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois. “One of the review articles that came out at the end of February discussed the possibility of virus traveling into the olfactory neurons, through the olfactory bulb, and into the brain.”

Dewan said one theory was that COVID-19 can affect the medulla oblongata (the brain stem), which controls our cardiorespiratory system. “So in that way, it’s not only related to the lungs, where the patients can’t breathe properly, but also the medullary neurons that control our breathing are also affected. This is one of the first articles pointing that out.”

But she emphasized that there isn’t enough data available to know what the long-term consequences of this could be. Dewan said it might be helpful to look at what is known about the damage to this area.

“It’s really difficult to say right now without data, however, patients that have stroke in the medulla, take the virus out of it and look at damage to the medulla — some of those patients will actually end up needing long-term tracheostomies to breathe,” she explained. “But we don’t know with the data that’s coming out, and some of the data from China is not necessarily comprehensive, but time will tell what the long-term effects will be.”

Excerpt of Heathline Magazine Article. For the full feature, please click HERE.