Evident Cerebral Perfusion Recovery in COVID-19 Patients: Results Based on Arterial Spin Labeling MRI

COVID-19 may affect the brain of patients, ranging in severity from confusion to life-threatening strokes. This study investigated the potential cerebral perfusion change in COVID-19- infected patients using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) sequence by follow up after patients recovered for 4, 12 and 18 months. It’s found that both cerebral blood flow (CBF) and bolus arrival time (BAT) values derived from pCASL demonstrated an increasing tendency over time in several brain areas in COVID-19 survivors after whole brain analysis. Our findings indicated that COVID-19 survivors may experience compensatory brain function recovery and this recovery process would be slow.