Chest computed tomography findings of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.
Eur Radiol. 2020 Oct; 30(10):5489-5498.ER

Abstract

OBJECTIVE

To retrospectively analyze the chest computed tomography (CT) features in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.

METHODS

From January 9, 2020, to February 26, 2020, totally 56 laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19 underwent chest CT. For 40 patients, follow-up CT scans were obtained. The CT images were evaluated for the number, type and distribution of the opacity, and the affected lung lobes. Furthermore, the initial CT scan and the follow-up CT scans were compared.

RESULTS

Forty patients (83.6%) had two or more opacities in the lung. Eighteen (32.7%) patients had only ground-glass opacities; twenty-nine patients (52.7%) had ground-glass and consolidative opacities; and eight patients (14.5%) had only consolidation. A total of 43 patients (78.2%) showed two or more lobes involved. The opacities tended to be both in peripheral and central (30/55, 54.5%) or purely peripheral distribution (25/55, 45.5%). Fifty patients (90.9%) had the lower lobe involved. The first follow-up CT scans showed that twelve patients (30%) had improvement, 26 (65%) patients had mild-moderate progression, and two patients (5%) had severe progression with "white lungs." The second follow-up CT showed that 22 patients (71%) showed improvement compared with the first follow-up CT, four patients (12.9%) had aggravated progression, and five patients (16.1%) showed unchanged radiographic appearance.

CONCLUSIONS

The common CT features of COVID-19 pneumonia are multiple lung opacities, multiple types of the opacity (ground-glass, ground-glass and consolidation, and consolidation alone), and multiple lobes especially the lower lobe involved. Follow-up CT could demonstrate the rapid progression of COVID-19 pneumonia (either in aggravation or absorption).

KEY POINTS

• The predominant CT features of COVID-19 pneumonia are multiple ground-glass opacities with or without consolidation and, with both lungs, multiple lobes and especially the lower lobe affected. • CT plays a crucial role in early diagnosis and assessment of COVID-19 pneumonia progression. • CT findings of COVID-19 pneumonia may not be consistent with the clinical symptoms or the initial RT-PCR test results.

Links

Publisher Full Text
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
dx.doi.org
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Authors+Show Affiliations

Fu F
Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People's Hospital & People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 7 Weiwu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003, Henan Province, China.
Lou J
Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People's Hospital & People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 7 Weiwu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003, Henan Province, China.
Xi D
Department of Radiology, Taikang People's Hospital, Zhoukou, Henan, China.
Bai Y
Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People's Hospital & People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 7 Weiwu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003, Henan Province, China.
Ma G
Department of Radiology, Gongyi People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Zhao B
Department of Radiology, Xincai People's Hospital, Zhumadian, Henan, China.
Liu D
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, Jiangsu, China.
Bao G
Department of Radiology, Yihe Hospital in Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Lei Z
Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People's Hospital & People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 7 Weiwu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003, Henan Province, China.
Wang M
Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People's Hospital & People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 7 Weiwu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003, Henan Province, China. mywang@ha.edu.cn.

MeSH

AdultAgedBetacoronavirusCOVID-19Coronavirus InfectionsDisease ProgressionFemaleHumansLungMaleMiddle AgedPandemicsPneumonia, ViralRetrospective StudiesSARS-CoV-2Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

32435925