Brain Fog in Long Covid: defining supporting networks using MRI tractography

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact worldwide. A growing number of people who has recovered from COVID-19 infection reports experiencing persisting symptoms, a condition that is now indicated as Long COVID. In this study, we focused on cognitive impairment, more specifically on a phenomenon commonly referred to as "brain fog". The objective of this thesis was therefore to define brain fog in Long COVID through an analysis of recent scientific literature, aiming to understand the cognitive domains involved in this phenomenon and its supporting network. The identified domains were executive function, working memory, visuo-spatial (working) memory, and selective attention. Once these domains were highlighted and their underlying neural circuits explored, due to its novelty we focused on the reconstruction of one of the key bundles for executive function (EF), the Frontal Aslant Tract (FAT), using probabilistic tractography with the MRview. The identification of correlations between cognitive performance and MRI parameters is valuable for unraveling the mechanisms of brain fog and assessing the impact of long COVID on the brain. Altered MRI metrics can also serve as objective markers for tracking the progression or recovery of long COVID.