Neurological symptoms and neuroimaging alterations related with COVID-19 vaccine: Cause or coincidence?

• Published in: Clinical imaging Vol. 80; pp. 348 - 352
• Main Authors: Corrêa, Diogo Goulart, Cañete, Luis Alcides Quevedo, dos Santos, Gutemberg Augusto Cruz, de Oliveira, Romulo Varella, Brandão, Carlos Otávio, da Cruz, Luiz Celso Hygino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.12.2021; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adenoviruses; Antibodies; Case reports; ChAdOx1 nCoV-19; Chicken pox; Complications; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Cytomegalovirus; Disease; Encephalitis; Facial nerve; Facial palsy; Fever; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Herpes viruses; Humans; Immunology; Influenza; Ischemia; Longitudinal studies; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Monkeys & apes; Myelitis; Neuroimaging; Neurological disorders; Neuroradiology; Pain; Paralysis; Pathophysiology; Patients; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Side effects; Signs and symptoms; Spinal cord; Stroke; Syphilis; Thrombosis; Vaccines; Vaccines - adverse effects; Viral diseases; COVID-19; Myelitis; Stroke; Vaccines; Facial palsy
• ISSN: 0899-7071; 1873-4499
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2021.08.021

Although vaccination against Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is still occurring, several adverse effects temporally related to these vaccines are already being reported, even if through isolated case reports. In the present study, we describe the lesions seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of three patients who developed neurological symptoms after receiving the ChAdOX1 nCoV-19 vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca). The first patient presented with an ischemic stroke in the posterior limb of the left internal capsule, two days after vaccination. The second patient presented with a left facial nerve palsy, seven days after vaccination. The third patient presented with myelitis, eight days after receiving the vaccine. All patients presented the symptoms after the first dose of the vaccine and did not have a history of previous COVID-19. The real incidence of these types of complications is not known yet, but it is important to consider the possibility of COVID-19 vaccine complications, in patients with a recent history of vaccination and recent development of neurological symptoms, even though this association is only casual. Longitudinal studies are necessary to further analyze the incidence of the adverse effects of each vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. •Vaccination against COVID-19 is still occurring, but some neurological adverse effects have been reported.•The incidence of COVID-19 vaccines adverse effects is not known yet.•We report three cases of neurological complications related with COVID-19 vaccination.•Despite occasional adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines, the benefits of getting vaccinated outweigh any possible risk.