Role of HRCT Scan of Chest in the Evaluation of COVID-19 Pneumonia

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It is a highly contagious viral disease spreading worldwide, with a rapid increase in the number of cases & deaths. COVID-19 pneumonia is characterized by fever, fatigue, dry cough, and dyspnea with other systemic features such as diarrhea, altered sensorium, stroke & multi-organ failure. HRCT chest is one of the most sensitive modalities for early detection of COVID-19 pneumonia & monitor the outcome of these patients. It is an important complement to the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. HRCT shows high specificity & sensitivity in detection of COVID-19 pneumonia being 90.7% & 70.8% respectively. In this pandemic situation, proper diagnosis & management of COVID-19 positive cases largely depends on HRCT findings & severity scoring.
 TAJ 2021; 34: No-1: 109-114

HRCT severity score as a predictive biomarker in severity assessment of COVID-19 patients

“…Therefore, it is of paramount importance to identify more accurate prognostic biomarkers for the disease's prognosis.󠄀 The potential areas where COVID-19 biomarkers can be instrumental include [3]; 1) Early symptom severity and disease suspicion 2) Clear evidence and categorization of disease severity 3) Framing criteria for hospital admission 4) Identifying a cohort at high risk 5) Defining ICU admission standards 6) Therapy rationalization 7) A therapeutic response's evaluation 8) Prediction of outcome 9) Defining the criteria for ICU and/or hospital High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) examinations are another method to detect viral infections in the body. They can also assess the severity of pulmonary disease and the presence of sequelae, track the disease's course, and eliminate other possible diagnoses [4]. Numerous studies have reported a correlation between inflammatory lab markers, hospital stay, and oxygen requirements with CT severity scores in COVID-19 patients [5].…”