Clinical Presentation and Outcomes of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2-Related Encephalitis: The ENCOVID Multicenter Study.

BACKGROUND: Several preclinical and clinical investigations have argued for nervous system involvement in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Some sparse case reports have described various forms of encephalitis in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease, but very few data have focused on clinical presentations, clinical course, response to treatment, and outcomes. METHODS: The SARS-CoV-2 related encephalopaties (ENCOVID) multicenter study included patients with encephalitis with full infectious screening, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection recruited from 13 centers in northern Italy. Clinical presentation and laboratory markers, severity of COVID-19 disease, response to treatment, and outcomes were recorded. RESULTS: Twenty-five cases of encephalitis positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. CSF showed hyperproteinorrachia and/or pleocytosis in 68% of cases whereas SARS-CoV-2 RNA by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction resulted negative. Based on MRI, cases were classified as acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (ADEM; n = 3), limbic encephalitis (LE; n = 2), encephalitis with normal imaging (n = 13), and encephalitis with MRI alterations (n = 7). ADEM and LE cases showed a delayed onset compared to the other encephalitis cases (P = .001) and were associated with previous, more severe COVID-19 respiratory involvement. Patients with MRI alterations exhibited worse response to treatment and final outcomes compared to those with other encephalitis. CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a wide spectrum of encephalitis characterized by different clinical presentation, response to treatment, and outcomes.

Erenumab Discontinuation After 12-Month Treatment: A Multicentric, Observational Real-Life Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess migraine outcome after 12-month treatment with erenumab and compare patients who underwent 3-month erenumab discontinuation following the first treatment cycle with those who continued monthly administrations. METHODS: This is a multicentric observational study in patients with migraine in treatment with erenumab. After a full 12-month treatment cycle (T12), patients could either continue or discontinue erenumab for at least 3 months. Patients who underwent treatment discontinuation were assessed after 3 months (T15) to decide whether to start retreatment. Patients were then assessed following at T16 and T18. RESULTS: Thirty consecutive patients were enrolled. Nineteen patients underwent treatment suspension at T12 up to T15, whereas 11 continued prophylaxis. At T15, patients who discontinued treatment documented significantly more migraine days (17.06 ± 6.5 vs 4.8 ± 2.5; p < 0.0001) and analgesics consumption (14.8 ± 9.2 vs 4.6 ± 2.5; p = 0.002), compared with those who continued treatment. After retreatment, at T16, patients who had previously undergone discontinuation documented a significant improvement in terms of migraine days (9.01 ± 4.4 vs 17.06 ± 6.5; p < 0.0001) and analgesics consumption (9.6 ± 7.3 vs 14.8 ± 9.2; p = 0.004). Such improvement was even greater at T18, comparable with T12. CONCLUSION: After treatment discontinuation, a rapid migraine worsening was found, despite the high clinical response during treatment and at retreatment, which might be secondary to an untimely interruption of a potentially disease-modifying pharmacologic intervention. Although clinical improvement was documented after retreatment, given the high frequency and degree of worsening during discontinuation, it seems plausible-even ethical-to re-evaluate current timing of discontinuation. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class III evidence that people with migraine discontinuing erenumab migraine prophylaxis after 12 months were more likely to have an increase in nonresponder status and migraine days than those who continued treatment.