Atypical acute disseminated encephalomyelitis with systemic inflammation after a first dose of AztraZaneca COVID-19 vaccine. A case report

Laure Bastide; Gaetano Perrotta; Valentina Lolli; Céline Mathey; Ortensa-Irina Vierasu; Serge Goldman; Frédéric Vandergheynst

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.995875

Atypical acute disseminated encephalomyelitis with systemic inflammation after a first dose of AztraZaneca COVID-19 vaccine. A case report

Front Neurol. 2022 Aug 29:13:995875. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.995875. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Laure Bastide¹, Gaetano Perrotta¹, Valentina Lolli², Céline Mathey³, Ortensa-Irina Vierasu³, Serge Goldman³, Frédéric Vandergheynst⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
² Department of Radiology, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, CUB Hôpital Erasme, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

Abstract

Background: Only a few cases of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) vaccination have been described since the beginning of the vaccination campaign.

Results: Here we report the first case of central nervous system (CNS) demyelination with systemic inflammatory findings on whole body 19-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) following the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine.

Conclusions: Clinicians should stay aware of potential new adverse events after immunization.

Keywords: COVID-19; acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM); fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT); systemic inflammation; vaccination.

Publication types

Case Reports