Central Nervous System Demyelination Following COVID-19 mRNA-Based Vaccination: Two Case Reports and Literature Review. (11th May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Shirley; Hor, Jyh Yung; Koh, Kee Leong; Chia, Yuen Kang
• Is Part Of: Journal of central nervous system disease. Volume 14(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-05-11
• Subjects: SARS-CoV2 -- acute disseminated encephalomyelitis -- trigeminal neuralgia -- COVID-19 vaccines -- Central nervous system demyelinating diseases -- mRNA-based; Central nervous system -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Brain -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Spinal cord -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Central Nervous System Diseases; Brain Diseases; Brain -- Diseases; Central nervous system -- Diseases; Spinal cord -- Diseases; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; Periodicals; 573.863905
• DOI: 10.1177/11795735221102747
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1179-5735

Abstract

As the world embarks on mass vaccination against SARS-CoV2 to alleviate the spread of this highly contagious novel coronavirus, there are growing anecdotal reports on immune-related neurological complications following immunisation. Similarly, we encountered 2 cases of central nervous system demyelination at our centre with Comirnaty (BNT162b2), a mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine. Our first patient had typical clinical-radiological manifestations of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) after his COVID-19 vaccination. This was the sixth reported case to date. Our second patient presented with an unusual complaint of trigeminal neuralgia, with an identifiable demyelinating lesion observed in the pons on neuroimaging. Both cases responded well to immunotherapy. However, larger prospective controlled studies and formal registries are much needed to ascertain a possible relationship between COVID-19 vaccines and acute central nervous system demyelination.