Cerebrovascular radiological features of COVID-19 positive patients

OBJECTIVE: To investigate acute cerebrovascular diseases (stroke and intracranial hemorrhage) by cranial radiologic examinations of patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and with neurological signs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between March 2020 and May 2021, patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department and had a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test and underwent Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT) and/or Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI), and/or diffusion MRI due to neurological findings were included in the study. RESULTS: The study reviewed a total of 925 patients, including 404 (43.67%) female and 521 (56.32%) male patients. The distribution of imaging methods was as follows: 805 (71%) patients had cranial MDCT, 71 (6.35%) patients had MRI, and 241 (21.57%) patients had diffusion MRI. Of the total 925 patients, 128 (13.8%) patients were detected with cerebrovascular diseases, 92 (9.9%) patients were detected with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, 37 (4%) patients were detected with intraparenchymal hemorrhage, 10 (1.1%) patients were detected with subarachnoid hemorrhage, and four (0.43%) patients were detected with subdural hemorrhage. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of subdural, subarachnoid, parenchymal hemorrhage. and stroke in terms of gender. While there was a significant difference in stroke according to age, there was no statistically significant difference in subdural, subarachnoid, and parenchymal hemorrhagic. Three (0.32%) patients were diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)'s-like demyelinating lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Cerebrovascular diseases, which may cause severe disability and even threaten the patient's life, should be kept in mind, especially in COVID-19 patients who present with neurological symptoms.