Infarction of the Splenium of the Corpus Callosum in the Age of COVID-19: A Snapshot in Time.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ischemic infarction of the corpus callosum is rare and infarction isolated to the corpus callosum alone rarer still, accounting for much <1% of ischemic stroke in most stroke registries. About half of callosal infarctions affect the splenium.

METHODS

During a 2-week period, at the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in New York City, 4 patients at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx were found to have ischemic lesions of the splenium of the corpus callosum, 2 with infarction isolated to the corpus callosum.

RESULTS

All patients tested positive for COVID-19 and 3 had prolonged periods of intubation. All had cardiovascular risk factors. Clinically, all presented with encephalopathy and had evidence of coagulopathy and raised inflammatory markers.

CONCLUSIONS

Infarction of the splenium of the corpus callosum is exceedingly rare and a cluster of such cases suggests COVID-19 as an inciting agent, with the mechanisms to be elucidated.