Does mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination in the subacute phase lead to microstructural brain changes? A prospective pilot MRI study using T1 relaxometry
Rafael Willems, Marta Cappelletti, Jan R. Schüre, Ralf Deichmann, Elke Hattingen, Christophe T. Arendt · 2026
Read Does mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination in the subacute phase lead to microstructural brain changes? A prospective pilot MRI study using T1 relaxometry by Rafael Willems, Marta Cappelletti, Jan R. Schüre, Ralf Deichmann, Elke Hattingen, Christophe T. Arendt (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13260724.txt.
Description
Rafael Willems and colleagues present a 2026 prospective pilot MRI study asking whether mRNA COVID-19 vaccination changes brain microstructure in the weeks after vaccination. Twenty-nine healthy adults who had never had the virus were scanned at three points. Scans came before the first dose, one to two weeks after the second dose, and two to three months after it. Both vaccine brands in use were included, giving eighty-five scans in total.
No new or growing white matter hyperintensities, bright spots linked to small vessel changes, were observed. Quantitative T1 values, a measure of tissue microstructure, showed no significant changes within individuals. Deviations averaged 0.1 percent and stayed within normal scan-to-scan variability. One participant's pre-existing spot shrank by one millimetre. The authors report no evidence of structural brain changes after vaccination in this small healthy group.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Rafael Willems, Marta Cappelletti, Jan R. Schüre, Ralf Deichmann, Elke Hattingen, Christophe T. Arendt |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 34229 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |