Acute cerebellitis following SARS‐CoV‐2 infection: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) first described in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has rapidly spread across the world and become a global public health emergency. Literature on the neurological manifestations of COVID‐19 is limited. We report a 24‐year‐old male, who presented with vertigo, dysarthria, and bradyphrenia 3 weeks after being diagnosed with COVID‐19 on nasopharyngeal reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The patient was diagnosed with acute cerebellitis based on magnetic resonance imaging features and showed improvement posttreatment with intravenous methylprednisone for 5 days. The scope of this article is to highlight the importance of early identification of neurological symptoms and timely management as the outcomes may be catastrophic.

Acute cerebellitis requiring posterior fossa decompression after COVID-19 vaccination in an ocrelizumab-treated patient with multiple sclerosis

“…The very uniform and diffuse cerebellitis with lymphocytic pleocytosis and unidentified pathogen indicates an immune-mediated process against an antigen, very specific for cerebellar cortex. There have been reports of acute cerebellitis related to SARS-CoV-2 infection [ 6 ] which could, in addition to our case, indicate an existence of an antigen (on the virus itself or on the vaccine-generated S-protein) triggering the immune-mediated cerebellitis.…”

Augensymptome bei Cerebellitis durch COVID-19

“…Moreno-Escobar et al. [ 15 ] behandelten mit Methylprednison. Zwei Tage später hatte sich die Photophobie zurückgebildet, ebenso andere Allgemeinsymptome (Tab.…”

“…[ 14 ] 47-jähriger Mann Horizontaler Blickrichtungsnystagmus Povlow und Auerbach [ 17 ] 30-jähriger Mann Photophobie Moreno-Escobar et al. [ 15 ] 24-jähriger Mann …”

The Broad Spectrum of Neuro-Radiological Abnormalities in Patients Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Supports the Diagnosis of Neuro-COVID-19

“…As a consequence, not all characteristics of neuroimaging findings in patients with COVID-19 were discussed. Among the CNS complications of a SARS-CoV-2 infection, spontaneous angiogram-negative subarachnoid bleeding [ 2 ], multiple sclerosis [ 3 ], neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder [ 4 ], immune encephalitis [ 5 ], Bickerstaff encephalitis (BBE) [ 6 ], reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) [ 7 ], myelitis [ 8 9 ], cerebellitis [ 10 ], cerebral vasculitis [ 11 ], and myoclonus syndrome were not included in this study. Imaging findings in most of these conditions are well described in the literature.…”

“…These narrowings resulted in vasogenic edema, ischemic stroke, or intracerebral bleeding [ 7 ]. Cerebellitis following a SARS-CoV-2 infection in a 24-year-old male presented as cortical hyperintensity in the cerebellar hemispheres bilaterally on FLAIR, as cortical and leptomeningeal enhancement involving the cerebellar hemispheres on T1 post-contrast images, and as hyperintensity in the region of the parenchymal signal abnormalities on FLAIR and DWI [ 10 ].…”