AJN On the Web.

Abstract

Objectives In late December, 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China was caused by a novel coronavirus, newly named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) We aimed to quantify severity of COVID-19 infection on High-Resolution CT and to determine its relationship with clinical parameters Materials and Methods From Jan 11, 2020, to Feb 5, 2020, the clinical, laboratory and HRCT features of 42 patients (26-75 years, 25 males) with COVID-19 were analyzed The initial and follow-up CT obtained a mean of 4 5 days and 11 6 days from the illness onset were retrospectively assessed for the severity and progression of pneumonia Correlations among clinical parameters, initial CT features and progression of opacifications were evaluated with Spearman correlation and linear regression analysis Results Thirty-five (83%) patients exhibited a progressive process according to CT features during the early stage from onset Follow-up CT findings showed progressive opacifications, consolidation, interstitial thickening, fibrous strips and air bronchograms, compared to initial CT (all pl0 05) Before regular treatments, there was a moderate correlation between the days from onset and sum score of opacifications (R=0 68, pl0 01) The C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and lactate dehydrogenase showed significantly positive correlation with the severity of pneumonia assessed on initial CT (R range 0 36-0 75, pl0 05) The highest temperature and the severity of opacifications assessed on initial CT were significantly related to the progression of opacifications on follow-up CT (p=0 001-0 04) Conclusions Patients with the COVID-19 infection usually presented with typical ground-grass opacities and other CT features, which showed significant correlations with some clinical and laboratory measurements Follow-up CT images often demonstrated progressions during the early stage from illness onset Corresponding author: Xiaoming Li, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Ave, 430030, Wuhan, China lilyboston2002@ 163 com;Wenzhen Zhu, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Ave, 430030, Wuhan, China zhuwenzhen8612@163 com Ying Xiong and Dong Sun contributed equally and share the first authorship This work was supported, in part, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 81730049, 81930045, 31630025 and 81601480) Copyright � 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc All rights reserved