Abstract:

Purpose: To evaluate the abnormalities on thin-section chest Computed Tomographic (CT) scans in patients with COVID-19 and correlate findings to duration of symptoms.Methods: RT-PCR positive patients were classified according to the time after the onset of the initial symptoms, into stage-1 (0–4 days); stage-2 (5–9 days); stage-3 (10–14 days); stage-4 (15–21 days); stage-5 (22–28 days). Each lung lobe was evaluated for extent affected by ground-glass opacities (GGO), crazy-paving pattern and consolidation, in five categories of percentual severity. Summation of scores from all five lung lobes provided the total CT score (maximal CT score, 25).Results: The predominant patterns of lung abnormalities were ground glass opacities (GGO), crazy-paving pattern, consolidation and curvi-linear opacities. The distribution of pulmonary lesions on CT in COVID-19 pneumonitis patients was mostly peripheral in the stages 1 and 2. With the development of the disease, the lesions gradually spread from the periphery to the center. Most chest CT scans showed bilateral lung involvement during the course of the disease. Conclusion: Thin-section CT could provide semi-quantitative analysis of pulmonary damage severity. This disease changed rapidly at the early stage, then tended to be stable and lasted for a long time.

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