Table 1.

General characteristics, clinical features, neurological manifestations, MRI findings, EEG results, treatment approaches, and outcomes of the five patients studied

Characteristic	Patient 1	Patient 2	Patient 3	Patient 4	Patient 5
Age, years/sex	71/F	64/M	53/F	51/M	67/M
Medical history
Hypertension	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Mellitus diabetes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Smoking	No	Yes	No	No	Yes (stopped)
Dyslipidemia	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Sleep apnea	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
BMI (kg/m2)	31	29	30	31	20
Renal status	ESRD Polycystic kidney disease Peritoneal dialysis	ESRD Diabetic nephropathy Peritoneal dialysis	AKI stage 3, hemodialysis with kidney recovery	AKI stage 3 –kidney recovery	KTR (C3 glomerulopathy) GFR = 33 ml/min/1.73 m2
Days from symptom onset at hospitalization	7	8	7	7	6
COVID‐19 symptoms at hospitalization	Fever, dyspnea, cough, myalgia	Fever, dyspnea, cough, diarrhea, myalgia	Fever, dyspnea	Fever, dyspnea, anorexia, hypotension	Fever, dyspnea, cough, myalgia
Neurologic signs at hospitalization	Confusion	Headache, confusion, minor aphasia, tremor	Headache	None	Headache, anosmia, dysgueusia
Severity of respiratory involvement	Severe	Severe	Critical	Critical	Severe
Neurological features	Confusion, agitation, tremor, pyramidal syndrome, coma, dysautonomia, decerebration, Death	Confusion, agitation, tremor, cerebellar ataxia, aphasia, apraxia, pyramidal syndrome, coma, dysautonomia	Confusion, agitation, tremor, cerebellar ataxia, mild aphasia, behavioral alterations, cognitive disturbances	Confusion, agitation, tremor, cerebellar ataxia, pyramidal syndrome, behavioral alterations, cognitive disturbances	Drop in visual acuity, VI cranial nerve palsy, cerebellar ataxia, behavioral alterations, pyramidal syndrome
Central hormonal dysfunction	Central hypothyroidism Low levels of FSH, LH, ACTH	Central hypothyroidism	No	No	Central hypothyroidism
MRI features	Acute leukoencephalitis. Symmetric FLAIR and DWI white matter hyperintensities predominantly in subcortical white matter	Acute leukoencephalitis and cytotoxic edema. FLAIR and DWI white matter hyperintensities in middle cerebellar peduncles, an acute mm‐scale cytotoxic edema on the posterior left frontal lobe, that persisted 16 days later excluding ischaemic stroke	Normal	Acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis. FLAIR hyperintensities and micro‐hemorrhagic lesions in the splenium of the corpus callosum	Normal
EEG features	EEG1: diffuse slow wave spikes. EEG2: asymmetric slow wave spikes and right occipital focus without seizure	EEG1: global and diffuse signal slowdown EEG2: slow bilateral delta elements organized in bursts or predominant opposite bifrontal diversions with bilateral 5−6 Hz theta band elements.	Normal	N/A	N/A
Antiviral treatment at hospitalization	No	Lopinavir‐ritonavir	Hydroxychloroquine	Hydroxychloroquine	Hydroxychloroquine
Antiepileptic treatment	Levetiracetam	Oxazepam	No	No	No
CS, IVIg	CS	CS, IVIg	No	No	CS
Neurological outcome	Temporary improvement after CS, relapse, coma and death	Improvement after CS, relapse, rapid improvement with IVIg	Spontaneous and gradual improvement	Spontaneous and gradual improvement	Rapid improvement with CS

ACTH, Adrenocortical Hormone; AKI, acute kidney injury; BMI, body mass index; CS, corticosteroids; DWI: diffusion‐weighted imaging; EEG, electroencephalogram; ESRD, end‐stage renal disease; F, female; FLAIR, fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery; FSH, follicle stimulating hormone GFR, glomerular filtration rate; IVIg, intravenous immunoglobulins; KTR, kidney transplantation recipient; LH, luteinizing hormone; M, male; N/A, not available. AKI was staged according to the kidney disease improving global outcome (KIDGO) criteria.