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Consensus Clinical Guidance for Diagnosis and Management of Adult COVID-19 Encephalopathy Patients
Benedict D Michael1, Dean Walton1, Erica Westenberg1
1National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Unit for Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, Liverpool, United Kingdom (Michael, Tamborska, Wood, Solomon); Department of Neurology, Walton Center National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom (Michael, Walton, Tamborska, Wood, Solomon); Clinical Infection Microbiology and Immunology, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, Institute for Infection, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (Michael, Singh, Tamborska, Wood, Easton, Solomon); Department of Neurology, Center for Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany (Westenberg, Winkler); Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Spain (García-Azorín); Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, United Kingdom (Singh); Department of Infectious Diseases, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (Singh); National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India (Netravathi); Department of Medicine, Neurology Division, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia (Chomba, Siddiqi); Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York (Chomba, Thakur); Encephalitis Society, Malton, United Kingdom (Easton); Department of Neurology, Global Neurology Program, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston (Siddiqi); Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Vaccines and Virology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston (Siddiqi); College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Institute of Inflammation and Aging, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom (Jackson); Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospitals Birmingham, United Kingdom (Jackson); Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London (Pollak); Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Center, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London (Nicholson, Breen); Department of Neurological Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India (Nair); NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Center, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and King's College London (Breen); Department of Neurology and Chief Executive Office, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India (Prasad); Departments of Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Chou); Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Chou); Department of Neurology, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago (Chou); Department of Neurology, Neurocritical Care Unit, Medical University Innsbruck, Austria (Schmutzhard, Helbok); New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York (Frontera); Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, Institute of Neurology, University of Brescia, Italy (Padovani); Division of Anesthesia, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (Menon); Faculty of Medicine, Center for Global Health, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Norway (Winkler).
Abstract:
Encephalopathy, a common condition among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, can be a challenge to manage and negatively affect prognosis. While encephalopathy may present clinically as delirium, subsyndromal delirium, or coma and may be a result of systemic causes such as hypoxia, COVID-19 has also been associated with more prolonged encephalopathy due to less common but nevertheless severe complications, such as inflammation of the brain parenchyma (with or without cerebrovascular involvement), demyelination, or seizures, which may be disproportionate to COVID-19 severity and require specific management. Given the large number of patients hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection, even these relatively unlikely complications are increasingly recognized and are particularly important because they require specific management. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide pragmatic guidance on the management of COVID-19 encephalopathy through consensus agreement of the Global COVID-19 Neuro Research Coalition. A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, medRxiv, and bioRxiv was conducted between January 1, 2020, and June 21, 2021, with additional review of references cited within the identified bibliographies. A modified Delphi approach was then undertaken to develop recommendations, along with a parallel approach to score the strength of both the recommendations and the supporting evidence. This review presents analysis of contemporaneous evidence for the definition, epidemiology, and pathophysiology of COVID-19 encephalopathy and practical guidance for clinical assessment, investigation, and both acute and long-term management.
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