ISSN / eISSN: 0033-8362 / 1826-6983
editor@radiologiamedicajournal.com
ISSN / eISSN: 0033-8362 / 1826-6983
ISSN / eISSN: 0033-8362 / 1826-6983
editor@radiologiamedicajournal.com
ISSN / eISSN: 0033-8362 / 1826-6983
Dr. Natalia Petrova¹, Dr. Michael Anderson², Dr. Haniyah Qureshi³
1 – Department of Neuroradiology, Moscow State Medical University, Russia
2 – Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA
3 – Department of Neurology, Aga Khan University, Pakistan
Objective: To investigate alterations in brain activation patterns on fMRI in patients with post-COVID cognitive symptoms (“brain fog”).
Methods: Thirty post-COVID patients with cognitive complaints and 30 age-matched controls underwent resting-state and task-based fMRI. Functional connectivity and activation maps were compared using statistical parametric mapping.
Results: Significant hypoconnectivity was observed between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus (p < 0.001), with compensatory hyperactivation in parietal regions. Cognitive scores correlated with connectivity loss (r = 0.72).
Conclusion: Post-COVID cognitive dysfunction is associated with distinct neural network alterations detectable by fMRI, supporting a neurobiological basis for “long COVID” symptoms.
Keywords: fMRI, COVID-19, cognition, functional connectivity, neuroimaging
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