Vessel wall imaging—an MRI technique that offers high resolution images of the vessel wall—may hold clues as to the mechanisms by which COVID infections continue to cause neurologic symptoms after initial recovery in some patients.  

In the case of a convicted murderer, a New York neuro specialist cited a slew of neuroimaging findings that indicate “severe dysfunction” that could have numbed the defendant’s “brakes of inhibition.” 

The preliminary results of a new study published in the medRxiv preprint server highlight variances in fetal brain development based on mothers’ perceived stress during the onset of COVID.

Compared to a group of patients who had not been previously diagnosed with Lyme disease, those who had been infected displayed unusual activity in the frontal lobe of the brain on functional MRI scans.

Using MRI imaging, the experts found that patients who experienced functional seizures had thinning in the superior temporal cortex and thickening of the left occipital cortex.

On MRI and PET brain scans, women who were exposed to a small dose of nicotine showed altered activity in the thalamus region of the brain.

“This study implies that future clinical workflows may see AI be used in an adjunct capacity to improve interpretations of CT scans by helping call radiologists' attention to findings that may be overlooked.” 

“Here we show that that the opportunities that a child has in early life to learn and grow will impact not just their behavior but their actual brain development and brain structure for years to come,” authors of the new research shared.