Characteristics of Thoracic CT Findings in Differentiating COVID-19 Pneumonia from Non-COVID-19 Viral Pneumonia

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (COVID-19 RT-PCR) positive predictive value is low. COVID-19 RT-PCR negative patients with pneumonia were not rare. It is difficult to distinguish COVID-19 pneumonia between other viral pneumonias radiologically and clinically. We aimed to find whether there was any different radiological finding in COVID-19 pneumonia with the other viral agents that caused pneumonia. Material and Methods: The study was designed retrospectively. 78 patients who underwent Thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) and COVID-19 RT-PCR were included in the study. Other viral Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were performed on 33 patients. Results: 22 patients had COVID-19 PCR positive and 11 patients had non-COVID-19 PCR positive. 8 patients had influenza A and B, and 3 patients had adenovirus. In both groups, lung parenchymal lesions were predominantly located in the upper lobes and peripheral. 31 (93.9%) patients had ground-glass density lesions, 24 (72.7%) patients had consolidation, and 5 (15.2%) patients had crazy paving lesions. 1(3.0%) patient had a halo sign. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of the features of the parenchymal lesions, except for vascular enlargement. Vascular enlargement was only seen in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (p: 0.019). Conclusion: Radiologically, the vascular enlargement sign seems to be specific to COVID-19 disease and it can be used to differentiate COVID-19 pneumonia from other viral pneumonias.

COVI3D: Automatic COVID-19 CT Image-Based Classification and Visualization Platform Utilizing Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies

“…x i_lung (10) where x i_lesion and x i_lung represent a lesion voxel and a lung-bronchi voxel, respectively. Then, we calculate the percentage of infection (PI) as the infected volumes V in f over the entire lung-bronchi volume V lung .…”

“…However, it is time-consuming and may provide both false-negative (FN) and false-positive (FP) rates [7]. Since COVID-19 causes lung complications, such as pneumonia, computed tomography (CT) of the scan is the most frequently used diagnostic tool [8][9][10]. In Algeria, CT scans have been widely used and show good clinical diagnostics [11].…”