Pulmonary CT manifestations of 172 patients with coronavirus disease 2019 in Chongqing

Abstract:

Objective：To analyze the pulmonary CT manifestations of patients with coronavirus disease 2019（COVID-19） in Chongqing for further understanding the imaging features of COVID-19. Methods：The initial CT data of 172 patients with COVID-19 in Chongqing were retrospectively collected. The distribution，location，shape，and density of pulmonary lesions were mainly analyzed，and the CT findings of cases diagnosed at different periods were compared. Results：Among the 172 patients，143（83.1%） cases had pulmonary inflammatory lesions on CT images，their CT manifestations were as follows：① range of involvement：37（25.9%） and 106（74.1%） cases had unilateral and bilateral lung involvement，respectively；lesions involving single，two，and three or more lobes were detected in 33（23.1%），23（16.1%） and 87（60.8%） cases，respectively，with an average of （3.2 ± 1.6） lobes；the right lower lobe（113 cases，79.0%） was most frequently involved，followed by the left lower lobe（98 cases，68.5%）；lesions involving single，two，and three or more segments were detected in 18（12.6%），18（12.6%），and 107（74.8%） cases，respectively，with an average of （7.4±5.7） segments. ②number，shape and density：among 133（93.0%） patients with multiple lesions，round or patchy consolidation with little ground glass opacity（GGO） was the most common（37 cases，27.8%），followed by patchy GGO（28 cases，21.1%） and round or patchy GGO with little consolidation（26 cases，19.6%）；10（7.0%） cases with single lesion included 5（50.0%） cases with round and 5（50.0%） cases with patchy GGO，respectively. ③distribution：lesions in 87（60.8%） cases were mainly located in subpleural zone，in 7（4.9%） cases were mainly distributed around the bronchial vascular bundle，and in 49（34.3%） cases located in both areas or distributed diffusely. With the passage of time，patients with multiple lesions were common in different periods. The proportion of patients with GGO alone increased gradu－ally，while that of patients with GGO and consolidation decreased gradually. Conclusion：The pulmonary lesions of COVID-19 patients in Chongqing are often multiple，mainly involving bilateral lung，multiple lobes and segments，and subpleural zones，round or patchy GGO with or without consolidation are the main CT manifestations. The proportion of cases with early stage disease increases gradually over time. The clinical data should be considered for diagnosing a few patients with localized lesions.