Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome during convalescence from COVID-19.

Michel-Chávez, Anaclara; García-Grimshaw, Miguel; Chávez-Martínez, Oswaldo Alan; Cantú-Brito, Carlos; Romero-Sánchez, Griselda Teresa; Flores-Silva, Fernando Daniel; Merayo-Chalico, Francisco Javier; Martínez-Carrillo, Francisco Manuel; Barrera-Vargas, Ana; Valdés-Ferrer, Sergio Iván

A 61-year-old woman with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) confirmed by nasopharyngeal real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) required invasive mechanical ventilation 24-hours after admission. During her intensive care unit stay, she developed transient acute kidney injury and septic shock. She was extubated after 22 days. On day 25, she developed generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed bilateral subcortical lesions on the parietal and occipital lobes and multiple micro-and macro-bleeds, consistent with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). At this point, RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 in a respiratory specimen and cerebrospinal fluid was negative. She was discharged home 35 days after admission on oral levetiracetam. Control MRI five months after discharge showed bilateral focal gliosis. On follow-up, she remains seizure-free on levetiracetam.PRES has been observed before as a neurological manifestation of acute COVID-19; to our knowledge, this is the first PRES case occurring in a hospitalized patient already recovered from COVID-19. A persistent proinflammatory/prothrombotic state triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection may lead to long-standing endothelial dysfunction, resulting in delayed PRES in patients recovering from COVID-19. With a rapid and exponential increase in survivors of acute COVID-19, clinicians should be aware of delayed (post-acute) neurological damage, including PRES.