Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome in COVID-19 Disease: a Case-Report

Abstract

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinical syndrome that can include headache, altered consciousness, visual disturbances, and seizures, usually related to autoregulatory cerebral failure and hypertension. The neuroimaging is essential to diagnosis, showing white matter vasogenic edema in posterior areas. We present a case of a 66-year-old woman with severe pneumonia by SARS-CoV-2 who developed a posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome with a typical clinical and radiological presentation, after being treated with anti-interleukin treatment (anakinra and tocilizumab) following local guidelines. We report a case of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in a patient with COVID-19 disease, possibly related to anti-IL-1 or anti-IL-6, suggesting that anti-interleukin treatments may cause this syndrome, at least in patients with predisposing conditions such as infections and hydroelectrolytic disorders. Copyright © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.