Case Report
Post-COVID-19 Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo
Siniˇ sa Maslovara
1,2
andAndroKoˇ sec
3
1
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Neurosurgery, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health, University of Osijek,
Osijek, Croatia
2
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, National Memorial Hospital, Vukovar, Croatia
3
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Zagreb School of Medicine,
University Hospital Center “Sestre Milosrdnice”, Zagreb, Croatia
Correspondence should be addressed to Andro Koˇ sec; andro.kosec@yahoo.com
Received 21 March 2021; Revised 23 May 2021; Accepted 26 May 2021; Published 1 June 2021
Academic Editor: Hakan Yaman
Copyright © 2021 Siniˇ sa Maslovara and Andro Koˇ sec. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Background. COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus (SARS-COVID-19). e WHO first learned about this
new virus on December 31, 2019, following a report on a group of cases of “viral pneumonia” in Wuhan, People’s Republic of
China, and declared a pandemic in March 2020. e disease was an almost complete unknown at the outset, but knowledge of its
pathophysiology, clinical picture, and treatment options grew and developed rapidly. Objective. Dizziness is a very common
symptom that patients report in routine clinical practice and one of the significant clinical manifestations of COVID-19. is short
report investigated a possible connection between COVID-19 and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Methods. We
present two cases of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), which developed within two weeks of SARS-COVID-19
infection, manifesting with mild disease severity in early November 2020. Results. In both cases, the disease manifested by severe,
short-lived attacks of vertigo, objective-circular type, with accompanying nausea and vomiting. e symptoms occurred when
lying in bed and turning to the right and assuming an upright position. e diagnosis of posterior semicircular canal BPPV (PC-
BPPV) was made based on a subjectively and objectively positive right-sided Dix–Hallpike test. Conclusions. e pathophysiology
of post-COVID BPPV is probably similar to that of other viral infections, with some of its specificities such as inducing
hypercoagulation and microthrombus formation, which can cause significant circulatory disorders possibly affecting
its pathogenesis.
1.Introduction
Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) is caused by severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COVID-
19). e WHO declared a pandemic of this virus in March
2020 after its rapid spread from the city of Wuhan, in the
province of Hubei in China [1]. It has been shown that, in
addition to the most common clinical symptoms of the
disease, such as dry cough, fever, and general weakness,
some patients develop taste and smell disorders, headaches,
congestion of the nasal mucosa, gastrointestinal disorders,
and dizziness. A small proportion of patients may develop
significant complications such as bilateral pneumonia, ac-
companied by shortness of breath, chest pain, and a
characteristic finding of ground-glass opacity on CT, which
indicates severe viral pneumonia [2, 3].
e infection can affect the central nervous system, and
neurological symptoms can appear both in the initial disease
stages and in the protracted recovery period. Most patients
experience, to a greater or lesser extent, neurological and
psychological symptoms, ranging from insomnia, anxiety,
and depression to disturbances of consciousness, confusion,
and epileptic seizures.
Among neurological complications, the most common
are encephalopathy and cerebrovascular stroke, disorders of
consciousness, seizures, and hypoxic brain injuries. Dys-
osmia and dysgeusia and nonspecific symptoms such as
headache, dizziness, and paresthesia have been reported.
Hindawi
Case Reports in Medicine
Volume 2021, Article ID 9967555, 4 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9967555