Clinical cases of “MR-negative” myelopathy amid SARS-CoV-2 infection

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Neurological complications are often observed in patients with a new coronavirus infection. Cerebrovascular diseases prevail among them. There is damage to the peripheral nervous system and spinal cord of various kind, including inflammatory and vascular myelopathy. The incidence of myelopathy syndrome among all neurological complications of the new coronavirus infection reaches 3%.
 OBJECTIVE. To characterize clinical and instrumental features of the rare case – “МR-negative” myelopathy amid SARS-CoV-2 infection.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS. The article describes a clinical case of myelopathy, associated with COVID-19 without structural changes in the spinal cord on MR-imaging using standard pulse sequences, however, visualized via spinal tractography.
 CONCLUSION. COVID-19 associated myelopathy is one of the characteristic complications amid the new coronavirus infection. To verify “MR-negative” damage to the central nervous system in COVID-19, advanced protocols of MRI studies might be used, including the promising method – МR-tractography.