Modelling the Anatomic Distribution of Neurologic Events in Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review of MRI Findings

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1. Version published to 10.3174/ajnr.a7113

   Apr 22, 2021
2. 

   ScreenIT

   Oct 26, 2020

   SciScore for 10.1101/2020.10.21.20215640: (What is this?)

   Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

   Table 1: Rigor

   Institutional Review Board Statement	not detected.
   Randomization	not detected.
   Blinding	not detected.
   Power Analysis	not detected.
   Sex as a biological variable	not detected.

   Table 2: Resources

   Software and Algorithms
   Sentences	Resources
   22 Search strategy: We searched Medline, Embase, Scopus and LitCovid databases from 1st January 2020 – 19th July 2020 using the MeSH terms “coronavirus” OR “COVID-19” AND “neurolog*” OR “brain” OR “central nervous system” OR “CNS” AND “MRI” OR “magnetic resonance imaging” OR “hypointensities” OR “microbleeds” OR “cerebral microbleeds” OR “microhemorrhages”.	Medline suggested: (MEDLINE, RRID:SCR_002185) Embase suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650) MeSH suggested: (MeSH, RRID:SCR_004750)

   SciScore for 10.1101/2020.10.21.20215640: (What is this?)

   Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

   Table 1: Rigor

   Institutional Review Board Statement	not detected.
   Randomization	not detected.
   Blinding	not detected.
   Power Analysis	not detected.
   Sex as a biological variable	not detected.

   Table 2: Resources

   Software and Algorithms
   Sentences	Resources
   22 Search strategy: We searched Medline, Embase, Scopus and LitCovid databases from 1st January 2020 – 19th July 2020 using the MeSH terms “coronavirus” OR “COVID-19” AND “neurolog*” OR “brain” OR “central nervous system” OR “CNS” AND “MRI” OR “magnetic resonance imaging” OR “hypointensities” OR “microbleeds” OR “cerebral microbleeds” OR “microhemorrhages”.	Medline suggested: (MEDLINE, RRID:SCR_002185) Embase suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650) MeSH suggested: (MeSH, RRID:SCR_004750)
   23 FSLeyes neuroimaging software from the FMRIB library was used to visualise white matter tracts and grey matter areas from the IIT atlas.	FMRIB suggested: (FSL, RRID:SCR_002823)
   25 White matter events were visualised using MATLAB 2018a and CONN toolbox version 19b. 26,27 Network diffusion model of spread: A graph theoretical meta-analytic model was used to test whether the spatial distribution of small neurological events in the brain can be explained by a spread via the brain’s structural connectome (source code available at: https://github.com/govin2000/covidspread).	MATLAB suggested: (MATLAB, RRID:SCR_001622)

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   Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your code and data.

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   Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:

   Limitations: This review has several important limitations. Firstly, we translated neurological events into a standard MRI atlas space using a qualitative method; whereby these pathologies were localised using the radiological description of the location and MRI images where available. While this method is inherently subjective and lacks specificity, we used multiple neuroimaging experts and only included data with specific spatial information or MRI images. As such, the qualitative nature of the translation should be considered with caution while interpreting our findings. Secondly, most of the included articles were cross-sectional case studies and hence cannot directly attribute the observed neuropathology to SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, longitudinal neuroimaging is necessary to directly assess causality. Lastly, some of the neurological events included in our study may be explained by the ageing process; whereby white matter hyperintensities are correlated with age.13,90 Hence, findings regarding white matter changes; particularly white matter hyperintensities in the centrum semiovale, should be interpreted with caution.

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   Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

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   Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

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   Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

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   Results from rtransparent:

   • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
   • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
   • No protocol registration statement was detected.

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   Read the original source
3. 

   Version published to 10.1101/2020.10.21.20215640v1 on medRxiv

   Oct 23, 2020