ArticleEuropean journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging2021
Long COVID hallmarks on [18F]FDG-PET/CT: a case-control study.
Article in European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pathophysiological Mechanisms in Long COVID: A Mixed Method Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Topographical Distribution of Neuroanatomical Abnormalities Following COVID-19 Invasion : A Systematic Literature Review.Clinical neuroradiology · 2024Pooled it
- Sequelae of COVID-19 among previously hospitalized patients up to 1 year after discharge: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Infection · 2022Pooled it
- Molecular Imaging Findings on Acute and Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Brain: A Systematic Review.Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin normalizes GABAClinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2023Trial
- Persistent lung and vascular inflammation in mild to moderate COVID-19 survivors detected by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT: A quantitative imaging study with implications for cardiovascular risk.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2026Article
- Assessment of dynamic cerebral blood flow changes during cognitive tasks in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Serum NfL and GFAP in post-COVID syndrome: minimal evidence of CNS injury after adjusting for confounders.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Varying Levels of Inflammatory Activity in Brain and Body of Patients with Persistent Fatigue and Difficulty Concentrating After COVID-19: A TSPO PET Study.Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2025Article
- Greater fatigue is more strongly associated with reduced reward sensitivity in the long-term phase of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) than in the early phase.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Do Long COVID and COVID Vaccine Side Effects Share Pathophysiological Picture and Biochemical Pathways?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Neuroimaging biomarkers of post-acute sequelae of Coronavirus Disease 2019.The British journal of radiology · 2025Review
- Hamsters with long COVID present distinct transcriptomic profiles associated with neurodegenerative processes in brainstem.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The association of post-COVID-19 fatigue in the acute phase with neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive symptoms trajectory over time and long-term health-related quality of life among Chinese adults.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2025Article
- Core features and inherent diversity of post-acute infection syndromes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of brain neuroimaging abnormalities in COVID-19 patients and survivors.Psychoradiology · 2025Article
- Conceptual foundations of acetylcarnitine supplementation in neuropsychiatric long COVID syndrome: a narrative review.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Review
- The Untapped Potential of Dimension Reduction in Neuroimaging: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Multimodal Analysis of Long COVID Fatigue.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Persistent brain metabolic impairment in long COVID patients with persistent clinical symptoms: a nine-month follow-up [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2024Article
- Long COVID in Brain Health Research: A Call to Action.Brain sciences · 2024Review
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe present study hypothesised that whole-body [18F]FDG-PET/CT might provide insight into the pathophysiology of long COVID.
methodsWe prospectively enrolled 13 adult long COVID patients who complained for at least one persistent symptom for >30 days after infection recovery. A group of 26 melanoma patients with negative PET/CT matched for sex/age was used as controls (2:1 control to case ratio). Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of whole-body images was performed. Fisher exact and Mann-Whitney tests were applied to test differences between the two groups. Voxel-based analysis was performed to compare brain metabolism in cases and controls. Cases were further grouped according to prevalent symptoms and analysed accordingly.
resultsIn 4/13 long COVID patients, CT images showed lung abnormalities presenting mild [18F]FDG uptake. Many healthy organs/parenchyma SUVs and SUV ratios significantly differed between the two groups (p ≤ 0.05). Long COVID patients exhibited brain hypometabolism in the right parahippocampal gyrus and thalamus (uncorrected p < 0.001 at voxel level). Specific area(s) of hypometabolism characterised patients with persistent anosmia/ageusia, fatigue, and vascular uptake (uncorrected p < 0.005 at voxel level).
conclusion[18F]FDG PET/CT acknowledged the multi-organ nature of long COVID, supporting the hypothesis of underlying systemic inflammation. Whole-body images showed increased [18F]FDG uptake in several "target" and "non-target" tissues. We found a typical pattern of brain hypometabolism associated with persistent complaints at the PET time, suggesting a different temporal sequence for brain and whole-body inflammatory changes. This evidence underlined the potential value of whole-body [18F]FDG PET in disclosing the pathophysiology of long COVID.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.