/ Annals of Neurology
Serum Neurofilament Light Chain Levels in the Intensive Care Unit: Comparison between Severely Ill Patients with and without Coronavirus Disease 2019.
Sutter R, Hert L, De Marchis GM, Twerenbold R, Kappos L, Naegelin Y, Kuster GM, Benkert P, Jost J, Maceski AM, Rüegg S, Siegemund M, Leppert D, Tschudin-Sutter S, Kuhle J.
Ann Neurol. 2020 Dec 30.
doi: 10.1002/ana.26004. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33377539.
At the University Hospital Basel, a collaboration between Intensive Care Unit, Cardiology and DKF, led by DKF research group leaders Prof. Jens Kuhle (Neurology) and Prof. Raoul Sutter (Intensive Care), showed that critically ill COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit more frequently show involvement of the nervous system than similarly severely ill patients without COVID-19. The study team was able to prove this on the basis of the concentrations of the light chain of neurofilaments (NfL) in the serum of the patients examined. NfL in serum are used as biomarkers that specifically reflect damage to nerve cells. The study indicates a frequent symptomatic or asymptomatic involvement of the nervous system in COVID-19. The study team concludes that serum NfL could also be used in the ICU to detect neurological complications and as a prognostic marker for worse outcome.