Upper Extremity Neuropathies Following Severe COVID-19 Infection: A Multicenter Case Series

Our series demonstrates that peripheral neuropathies and especially brachial plexopathies have occurred following mechanical ventilation for ARDS-related COVID-19 infections. Contrary to prior COVID-19 studies, only 54.5% of these patients underwent prone positioning. Aside from a traumatic disturbance of prone positioning, the increased incidence of neuropathy may involve an atraumatic effect of COVID-19 via direct invasion of nerves, autoantibody targeting of nervous tissue, or hypercoagulation-induced microthrombotic angiopathy.