HRCT CHEST EVALUATION OF SEQUELAE OF COVID-19 PNEUMONIA

Abstract

Since December 2019, many unexplained cases of pneumonia have been reported, as a result of exposure in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. The pathogen identied was coronavirus and the disease was named COVID-19 by World Health Organization (WHO). Based on the epidemiological surveys done, dry cough, fever and fatigue were the main clinical manifestations reported.(Huang et al., 2020; X. Liu et al., 2020) Few patients had symptoms such as runny nose, nasal obstruction, myalgia, sore throat, and diarrhoea. Seriously ill patients rapidly progressed to ARDS. The COVID-19 outbreak has been declared public health emergency of international concern by the WHO. A specic viral nucleic acid assay, real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was developed to diagnose COVID-19. However, published literature on COVID-19 pneumonia showed some patients with initial negative RT-PCR results. According to current literature, HRCT thorax may show abnormalities earlier than even RT-PCR(Zhou et al., 2020). Therefore, high resolution CT had been included as one of the main tools particularly for screening and in the evaluation of the severity of disease (Salameh et al., 2020) Although most of the patients showed complete resolution from illness, some of the them were likely to have some kind of long-term lung damage. Radiological ndings have proven to be helpful in estimating the course of the disease and they can be used to evaluate long-term consequences of the disease. CT had been recommended as an important tool for screening and also for evaluation of severity of the illness.(Dai et al., 2020; Shah et al., 2021) AIM: Ÿ Aim of the study was to determine the sequelae of COVID-19 pneumonia in positive patients 4 – 8 weeks after RT-PCR negative report. OBJECTIVE: Ÿ To describe the HRCT chest ndings of sequelae of COVID-19 pneumonia- GGO, brosis, bronchovascular bundle distortion and small pleural effusion. Ÿ To explore the relevant factors affecting the sequelae - initial clinical symptoms of onset, risk factors, age, and gender and laboratory examinations. Ÿ To determine the cumulative percentage of complete radiological resolution - using CT severity score