Chest CT features of patients under investigation for Covid-19 pneumonia in a Ghanaian tertiary hospital: a descriptive study.

Klenam Dzefi-Tettey,Emmanuel K M Edzie,Philip N Gorleku,Isaac Acquah,Patrick Adjei,Ali Samba,Patience S Saaka,Arwen J Insaidoo,Jonathan K Semetey,Edward K D Ayem

doi:10.4314/gmj.v54i4.8

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has since December 2019 become a problem of global concern. Due to the virus' novelty and high infectivity, early diagnosis is key to curtailing spread. The knowledge and identification of chest Computerized Tomography (CT) features in Patients Under Investigation (PUI) for the disease would help in its management and containment. To describe the chest CT findings of PUI for COVID-19 pneumonia referred to the Department of Radiology of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital; as well as to determine the relationship between symptom onset and severity of the chest CT findings. The study was retrospective and included 63 PUI for COVID-19 referred to the Department between 11th April, 2020 and 10th June, 2020, for non-enhanced chest CT imaging. Clinical data were obtained from patients' records and Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) results were acquired after the CT evaluation. The mean age in years was 51.1±19.9 SD. More males (52.8%) than females (47.2%) tested positive for COVID-19 and the age range for positive cases was 7 months to 86 years, with a mean of 53.2±21 SD years. Common features of COVID-19 pneumonia were bilateral posterior basal consolidations, Ground Glass Opacities (GGO) and air bronchograms. Findings were worse in patients scanned 5-9 days after onset of symptoms. Adequate knowledge of chest CT features of COVID-19 pneumonia, proves a valuable resource in triaging of symptomatic patients and consequent containment of the disease in the hospital setting. None declared.

Highlights

There has been a global spread of an acute viral disease, Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), since December 2019
We reviewed 63 Patients Under Investigation (PUI) for COVID-19 pneumonia referred to the department of radiology between the 11th of April 2020 and the 10th of June 2020 for non-enhanced chest Computerized Tomography (CT) scans
A suspected case of COVID-19 was defined as an individual who met at least three of the following criteria: fever, anosmia, rhinorrhoea, cough, dyspnoea, myalgia, abnormal chest findings on physical examination, pneumonia not responding to empirical antibiotic agents, and a history of travel from other countries with recorded

Summary

Introduction

There has been a global spread of an acute viral disease, Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), since December 2019. It has been found to be caused by the novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).[1] Like earlier pandemic-causing viruses such as SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), SARS-CoV-2 is a β-coronavirus.[2] it has a higher infectivity potential than earlier encountered coronaviruses, achieving this through a higher binding affinity of its spike protein to the human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor site of the respiratory epithelium of humans.[2,3]. Person-person transmission of this severe acute respiratory syndrome was subsequently established and on March 11th of 2020, it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).[2,4] www.ghanamedj.org Volume 54 Number 4 December 2020

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