A Case Report of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Developing After COVID-19 Infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 virus) has been reported to cause significant injury to the central nervous system (CNS). Herein, we describe the case of a 48-year-old male with a past medical history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), hypertension, and hyperlipidemia who developed typical symptomatology of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) with cognitive impairment, gait dysfunction, and urinary incontinence after a mild coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection. The diagnosis was confirmed by imaging and lumbar puncture (LP). The patient was treated with a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placed by neurosurgery and had a complete recovery. Despite increasing reports of neurological manifestations of COVID-19 infection, the mechanism of such pathology is still not well understood. Hypotheses include viral invasion of the CNS either through the nasopharynx and olfactory epithelium or directly through the blood brain barrier.