During a screening test, a 54-year-old man was diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The patient was instructed to self-isolate at home and report any symptoms that worsened. At 14 and 15 days after his original diagnosis, he presented with pneumonia exacerbated by encephalopathy. Bithalamic and gangliocapsular FLAIR signal abnormalities were found on MRI of the brain, along with modest right-sided thalamic, periventricular diffusion limitation. Given the location of the edoema, a CT venogram was performed, which revealed severe venous thrombosis including the bilateral internal cerebral veins and the vein of Galen. Bithaural and ganglionocapsulina venous infammation were blamed for the mental decline. 

The CSF workup, as well as the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and bacterial cultures, all came back negative for encephalitis. COVID 19 created a hypercoagulable condition, which caused the venous thrombosis. The patient’s status has been reported as stable, and he is currently in hospital in a stable condition. Unfortunately, the patient’s condition worsened, and care was discontinued.

Reference Link – https://thejns.org/view/journals/j-neurosurg/135/1/article-p17.xml

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