MRI reveals reduced cerebral blood flow in long COVID fatigue

In a small study, post-COVID patients had lower average cerebral blood flow on MRI (49.2 vs 51.7 mL/100g/min) and reported greater fatigue after a cognitive task, linking perfusion deficits to persistent symptoms.

• Voxel-wise analysis revealed regional hypoperfusion in the right inferior occipital gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, and right middle cingulate cortex.
• Patients had slower reaction times across all task periods, indicating slower processing speed, but no greater performance decline over time.
• The study included 22 post-COVID patients and 19 controls who completed a psychomotor vigilance task during fMRI.

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