Abnormal Chest Radiograph Research Articles

2120. Respiratory Viral Infections in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies

Abstract Background Respiratory virus infections (RVI) are an important cause of pneumonia with increased risk of morbidity and mortality in patients with hematologic malignancies (HM) especially after stem cell transplantation. However, data on RVI in this population without stem cell transplant is still lacking. Here we aim to look at trends of RVI in HM population. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult patients with HM diagnosed with RVI at our institution. We analyzed data from multiplex qualitative PCR-based respiratory viral panel (RVP) samples taken from January 2016 to June 2020. Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) was defined as abnormal chest radiography with positive RVP. Results Fifty-seven unique episodes were analyzed out of 54 patients. Thirty (52.6%) were females and the most common underlying malignancy was Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (21, 36.8%). Median age was 61 (range 23-92) years old and 44/57 (77.1%) patients received chemotherapy within 30 days prior to RVI. Patient characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Most common viruses included Rhinovirus/Enterovirus (25, 43.8%), Influenza A/B (14, 24.5%) and RSV A/B (7,12.2%), respectively. Out of 39 patients who underwent chest imaging, 13/39 (33.3%) had evidence of LRTI. Out of 45 cases diagnosed as outpatients, 11/45 (24.4%) required hospital admission. ICU admission and mechanical ventilation were required in 5/57 (8.7%) and 2/57 (3.5%), respectively. Bacterial and fungal co-infection were seen in 1 (Pseudomonas spp) and 3 (Aspergillus spp.), respectively. Of note, only 1/57(1.8%) died at 30 days after RVI diagnosis. Conclusion Only one third developed LRTI after RVI in HM patients with very low 30-day mortality. However, we still found several bacterial and fungal co-infections. Thus, adequate diagnosis for RVI and co-infections with proper treatment should be required. Further studies with larger sample size are still needed. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

Torque Teno Virus in Nasopharyngeal Aspirate of Children With Viral Respiratory Infections.

Torque teno virus (TTV) is a ubiquitous anellovirus responsible for persistent infections and is considered a marker of immune function. The role of TTV as a facilitator of respiratory infections (RIs) is unknown. Our aim was to estimate, in a prospective study, the prevalence of TTV in the nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) of hospitalized children <5 years old, with RIs and correlate them with outcomes and immune response. NPA was taken for testing of 16 respiratory viruses by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), TTV PCR, and immunologic study. Sixty hospitalized children with an RI were included. A total of 51/60 patients had positive common respiratory viral (CRV) identification. A total of 23/60 (38.3%) children were TTV+ in NPA. TTV+ patients had other CRVs in 100% of cases versus 78.3% in TTV- ( P = 0.029). The TTV+ patients tended to be older, have fever, and to need pediatric intensive care unit admission more often than TTV- patients. Abnormal chest radiograph was more frequent in the TTV+ patients, odds ratios 2.6 (95% CI: 1.3-5.2). The genetic expression of filaggrin (involved in epithelial barrier integrity) was lower in TTV+ patients; however, the levels of filaggrin in the NPA were increased. TTV infection is common in children with RI and could be associated with abnormal imaging in radiograph, greater severity and an alteration in filaggrin gene expression and protein release.

Study of Pulmonary Function and Chest Radiographic Abnormalities in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Study of Pulmonary Function and Chest Radiographic Abnormalities in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Incidence, Clinical Features, and Factors Associated with Pediatric COVID-19 Pneumonia

Background: In December 2019, the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection was first reported in Wuhan, China. It rapidly spread worldwide, causing health, economic, and social problems. In terms of health issues, the critical condition is respiratory tract infection, especially pneumonia and subsequent respiratory failure. However, the incidence and related factors of COVID-19 pneumonia among children are still not well understood. Objective: To find the incidence and factors associated with pediatric COVID-19 pneumonia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed by including patients less than 15 years old whose nasopharyngeal PCR swabs were positive for COVID-19. All patients were admitted to the cohort ward or pediatric department at ChumPhae Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand between January 1 and December 31, 2021. Demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory data, and chest radiographs reported by radiologists were collected. Descriptive statistics was performed followed by simple and multiple logistic regressions to determine the associated factors of COVID-19 pneumonia. Results: Two hundred eighty-seven cases were included, with 114 cases or 39.7% (95% CI 34.1 to 45.7%) of abnormal chest radiographs reported. The risks associated with increasing pneumonia were weight-for-height percentage (adjusted OR 1.01, 95% CI 1 to 1.02). Aged younger than 1 year group and aged 1 to younger than 3 years old group had significantly higher risk of pneumonia than patients aged 7 to younger than 15 years old group [(adjusted OR 3.82, 95% CI 1.28 to 11.45) and (adjusted OR 5.7, 95% CI 2.62 to 12.43), respectively]. In contrast, rhinorrhea was slightly associated with lower risk (adjusted OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.87). Conclusion: Among children, COVID-19 pneumonia is frequent, and the risk was increased for those in the group of less than 3 years old and having increased body weight. Rhinorrhea was slightly associated with a lower risk. Physicians and care teams should consider these factors when treating this group of pediatric patients. Keywords: Pneumonia; COVID-19; Children; Pediatric

Role of an Automated Deep Learning Algorithm for Reliable Screening of Abnormality in Chest Radiographs: A Prospective Multicenter Quality Improvement Study.

In medical practice, chest X-rays are the most ubiquitous diagnostic imaging tests. However, the current workload in extensive health care facilities and lack of well-trained radiologists is a significant challenge in the patient care pathway. Therefore, an accurate, reliable, and fast computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system capable of detecting abnormalities in chest X-rays is crucial in improving the radiological workflow. In this prospective multicenter quality-improvement study, we have evaluated whether artificial intelligence (AI) can be used as a chest X-ray screening tool in real clinical settings. Methods: A team of radiologists used the AI-based chest X-ray screening tool (qXR) as a part of their daily reporting routine to report consecutive chest X-rays for this prospective multicentre study. This study took place in a large radiology network in India between June 2021 and March 2022. Results: A total of 65,604 chest X-rays were processed during the study period. The overall performance of AI achieved in detecting normal and abnormal chest X-rays was good. The high negatively predicted value (NPV) of 98.9% was achieved. The AI performance in terms of area under the curve (AUC), NPV for the corresponding subabnormalities obtained were blunted CP angle (0.97, 99.5%), hilar dysmorphism (0.86, 99.9%), cardiomegaly (0.96, 99.7%), reticulonodular pattern (0.91, 99.9%), rib fracture (0.98, 99.9%), scoliosis (0.98, 99.9%), atelectasis (0.96, 99.9%), calcification (0.96, 99.7%), consolidation (0.95, 99.6%), emphysema (0.96, 99.9%), fibrosis (0.95, 99.7%), nodule (0.91, 99.8%), opacity (0.92, 99.2%), pleural effusion (0.97, 99.7%), and pneumothorax (0.99, 99.9%). Additionally, the turnaround time (TAT) decreased by about 40.63% from pre-qXR period to post-qXR period. Conclusions: The AI-based chest X-ray solution (qXR) screened chest X-rays and assisted in ruling out normal patients with high confidence, thus allowing the radiologists to focus more on assessing pathology on abnormal chest X-rays and treatment pathways.

The burden and predictors of latent tuberculosis infection among elder adults in high epidemic rural area of tuberculosis in Zhejiang, China.

Diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is critical to tuberculosis (TB) control. Identifying the risk factors associated with LTBI can contribute to developing an optimized strategy for LTBI management. We conducted a survey of adults aged 65 years and older living in rural areas in Zhejiang Province during July 2021, followed by a one-year follow-up period to determine TB incidence. Participants underwent a physical examination and 5-6 mL of blood was drawn to test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection A total of 1856 individuals participated in the study, of whom 50.5% were men and 80.1% were married. Most participants (96.8%) often opened windows for ventilation at home. One-third (33.4%) of participants had abnormal chest radiographs and 34.9% had LTBI. Nine participants (0.5%) developed active TB patients during the one-year follow-up period. People who frequented closed entertainment places such as chess and card rooms had a relatively high percentage of LTBI (39.5%). Factors associated with a higher risk of LTBI in multivariable logistic regression analysis included being male (odds ratio [OR]:1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI] =:1.01-1.72), smoking (OR: 1.43; 95% CI:1.04-1.97), not opening windows for ventilation at home frequently (OR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.10-3.22), and abnormal chest radiographs (OR; 1.48; 95% CI; 1.20-1.81). LTBI was prevalent among the elder adults living in high-epidemic rural areas of TB in Zhejiang province. Men, people who smoke, and people without the habit of ventilating at home should be targeted for LTBI screening to accelerate the decline of the TB epidemic in Zhejiang Province.

MS-CheXNet: An Explainable and Lightweight Multi-Scale Dilated Network with Depthwise Separable Convolution for Prediction of Pulmonary Abnormalities in Chest Radiographs

Pulmonary diseases are life-threatening diseases commonly observed worldwide, and timely diagnosis of these diseases is essential. Meanwhile, increased use of Convolution Neural Networks has promoted the advancement of computer-assisted clinical recommendation systems for diagnosing diseases using chest radiographs. The texture and shape of the tissues in the diagnostic images are essential aspects of prognosis. Therefore, in the latest studies, the vast set of images with a larger resolution is paired with deep learning techniques to enhance the performance of the disease diagnosis in chest radiographs. Moreover, pulmonary diseases have irregular and different sizes; therefore, several studies sought to add new components to existing deep learning techniques for acquiring multi-scale imaging features from diagnostic chest X-rays. However, most of the attempts do not consider the computation overhead and lose the spatial details in an effort to capture the larger receptive field for obtaining the discriminative features from high-resolution chest X-rays. In this paper, we propose an explainable and lightweight Multi-Scale Chest X-ray Network (MS-CheXNet) to predict abnormal diseases from the diagnostic chest X-rays. The MS-CheXNet consists of four following main subnetworks: (1) Multi-Scale Dilation Layer (MSDL), which includes multiple and stacked dilation convolution channels that consider the larger receptive field and captures the variable sizes of pulmonary diseases by obtaining more discriminative spatial features from the input chest X-rays; (2) Depthwise Separable Convolution Neural Network (DS-CNN) is used to learn imaging features by adjusting lesser parameters compared to the conventional CNN, making the overall network lightweight and computationally inexpensive, making it suitable for mobile vision tasks; (3) a fully connected Deep Neural Network module is used for predicting abnormalities from the chest X-rays; and (4) Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) technique is employed to check the decision models’ transparency and understand their ability to arrive at a decision by visualizing the discriminative image regions and localizing the chest diseases. The proposed work is compared with existing disease prediction models on chest X-rays and state-of-the-art deep learning strategies to assess the effectiveness of the proposed model. The proposed model is tested with a publicly available Open-I Dataset and data collected from a private hospital. After the comprehensive assessment, it is observed that the performance of the designed approach showcased a 7% to 18% increase in accuracy compared to the existing method.

COVID-19-INDUCED PULMONARY SARCOIDOSIS: A CASE REPORT

COVID-19-INDUCED PULMONARY SARCOIDOSIS: A CASE REPORT

Elderly man with abnormal chest radiograph after central venous catheter insertion.

A 78-year-old male presented to the emergency department with septic shock. A left-sided internal jugular central venous catheter (CVC) was inserted using ultrasound guidance. A routine post-procedure chest radiograph was obtained to confirm CVC placement (Figure 1). The chest radiograph findings raised concerns for the possibility of an unanticipated carotid artery placement as the intraluminal catheter did not appear to cross the midline and terminated in an abnormal left paramediastinal location. A follow-up computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest was performed to further evaluate line positioning (Figure 2 and 3). The prevalence of left-sided SVC is unknown as it is often silent and detected incidentally on imaging, though estimates range from 0.3% to 3%.1 Paired transient anterior cardinal veins are present during routine fetal development. The left anterior cardinal vein typically involutes and the right anterior cardinal vein enlarges to form the SVC. A left-sided SVC is a congenital anomaly resulting from the failure of the left anterior cardinal vein to obliterate.2 A left-sided SVC typically drains into the right atrium via the coronarysinus, though the precise vascular anatomy may be challenging to delineate in the absence of intravenous contrast.3 Infrequently, it drains into the left atrium causing a right-to-left shunt most frequently without significant cyanosis.3 Inadvertent arterial placement is the principal consideration that should be excluded when a left-sided CVC fails to cross the midline as anticipated. Occasional anatomic variants may exist that can be more readily delineated with the use of cross-sectional imaging if needed. In this case, after confirmation of the anatomical variation and adequate venous placement by CT imaging, the catheter was used without issue or complication.

Long-term outcomes in COVID-19 patients who recovered from the first wave of the pandemic.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the long-term health effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Jianghan District (Wuhan, China). The results showed that 61.4% of COVID-19 patients reported at least one symptom and 8.8% had depressive symptoms at the 17-month follow-up. The proportion of patients with chest radiographic abnormalities in Fangcang shelter hospitals and designated COVID-19 hospitals was 31.6% and 41.1%, respectively, and the proportion of patients with impaired pulmonary diffusion capacity in these hospitals was 52.8% and 60.9%, respectively. Female sex (odds ratio [OR]=1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-1.88), severe disease (OR=1.46, 95% CI: 1.01-2.10) and a higher number of initial symptoms (OR=1.31, 95% CI: 1.23-1.40) were associated with the development of sequelae symptoms at 17months. This study involving community-dwelling COVID-19 adults may help determine the long-term effects of COVID-19 during the first pandemic wave. Nonetheless, larger follow-up studies are needed to characterize the post-COVID-19 condition.

Comparative Role of MDCT and FDG-PET/CT in the Diagnostic Evaluation of Mediastinal Mass Lesions: An Institutional Experience.

Background Mediastinal mass lesions span a wide histopathological and radiological spectrum. Partition of the mediastinum into specific compartments aids in differential diagnosis of mass lesions, assistance in biopsies, and other surgical procedures. Multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) is a promising three-dimensional imaging tool allowing substantial anatomical volumes to be routinely covered with isotropic submillimeter spatial resolution to precisely localize lesions and biopsy needles for both benign and malignant disease lesions of the mediastinum. Objective The aim of this study was to categorize mass lesions according to the mediastinal compartments to study their MDCT characteristics and to provide a comparative role of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) in the diagnostic evaluation of mediastinal mass lesions. Materials and Methods Patients with clinical or radiological suspicion of mediastinal lesions on the basis of an abnormal chest radiograph were referred to the department of radiodiagnosis at a tertiary care center between April 2015 and December 2019 for MDCT evaluation. A total of 80 cases were correlated with the histopathological diagnosis excluding aneurysms. Size, CT density (Hounsfield unit [HU] mean), and maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ) of mediastinal and chest wall lesions were determined on FDG-PET/CT. Results This study included a total of 102 cases, 72 males and 29 females. Mediastinal mass lesions were most common in the age group 46 to 60 years. Anterior mediastinum ( n = 43, 42.2%) is the most commonly involved compartment followed by posterior mediastinum ( n = 37, 35.9%) and middle mediastinum ( n = 22, 21.8%). Transcompartmental involvement is more commonly seen involving the anterior and middle mediastinum. The SUV max , HU mean, and size were higher in malignant cases ( p = 0.001, p = 0.003, and p = 0.004, respectively). The current study found a cutoff value of 4.61 for SUV max to discriminate benign lesions from malignant ones with a sensitivity and specificity of 73.7 and 75.9%, respectively (area under the curve: 0.841, 95% confidence interval: 0.793–0.965, p = 0.0001). The values of SUV max and HU mean were higher in solid benign lesions than those of cystic benign lesions ( p = 0.007 and p = 0.003, respectively). Conclusion In the current study, MDCT has high diagnostic accuracy of ∼94% overall as compared with histopathology, and 97 and 92% for benign and malignant lesions, respectively, in the evaluation of mediastinal mass lesions. FDG-PET/CT may be complementary to conventional imaging methods for the evaluation of mediastinal and chest wall mass lesions. However, confirmatory tissue sampling is required to confirm PET positive findings for the definite diagnosis.

Optimal duration of the apnea test for determining brain death: Benefit of the short-term apnea test.

The criteria for brain death determination have not been unified globally, and there is no global consensus on the apnea test, which is essential for determining brain death. Since the apnea test is associated with many complications, we aimed to determine an optimal duration of the apnea test. We analyzed the results of the apnea test performed for brain death determination between August 2013 and February 2021 at a single institution in South Korea. Elevations in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide and mean arterial blood pressure fluctuations over time in the apnea test were recorded. In the 1st and 2nd tests, the mean partial pressure of carbon dioxide increased by more than 20 mmHg at 3 min after the apnea test compared to before the test (P < 0.05). At 4 min in the 1st test and 5 min in the 2nd test, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide exceeded 60 mmHg (P < 0.05). The fluctuation in the mean arterial blood pressure observed for 5 min during the apnea test was not significant. There was no significant fluctuation in the mean arterial blood pressure over time in the apnea test between patients with normal chest radiography findings and those with abnormal chest radiography findings (P = 0.888). Our study proposes that a short-term apnea test protocol is valid for the preservation of organs for donation.

Deployment and validation of an AI system for detecting abnormal chest radiographs in clinical settings.

BackgroundThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a mechanism for deploying and validating an AI-based system for detecting abnormalities on chest X-ray scans at the Phu Tho General Hospital, Vietnam. We aim to investigate the performance of the system in real-world clinical settings and compare its effectiveness to the in-lab performance.MethodThe AI system was directly integrated into the Hospital's Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) after being trained on a fixed annotated dataset from other sources. The system's performance was prospectively measured by matching and comparing the AI results with the radiology reports of 6,285 chest X-ray examinations extracted from the Hospital Information System (HIS) over the last 2 months of 2020. The normal/abnormal status of a radiology report was determined by a set of rules and served as the ground truth.ResultsOur system achieves an F1 score—the harmonic average of the recall and the precision—of 0.653 (95% CI 0.635, 0.671) for detecting any abnormalities on chest X-rays. This corresponds to an accuracy of 79.6%, a sensitivity of 68.6%, and a specificity of 83.9%.ConclusionsComputer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems for chest radiographs using artificial intelligence (AI) have recently shown great potential as a second opinion for radiologists. However, the performances of such systems were mostly evaluated on a fixed dataset in a retrospective manner and, thus, far from the real performances in clinical practice. Despite a significant drop from the in-lab performance, our result establishes a reasonable level of confidence in applying such a system in real-life situations.

Cardiac manifestations of sarcoidosis

Introduction and purpose: Sarcoidosis is a chronic, multi-system inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology. Due to the varied clinical picture of patients, the diagnosis of the disease is complicated, especially when the heart is affected.The aim of this article is to review the available diagnostic tools used for the diagnosis, evaluation and monitoring of patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis.&#x0D; Description of the state of knowledge: Sarcoidosis may affect any organ, but in particular lungs, skin, lymph nodes, eyes, liver and spleen. The most common manifestations are persistent cough, skin changes, visual disturbances, peripheral lymphadenopathy, fatigue and incidental abnormal chest radiograph. Cardiac sarcoidosis, occurring in about 5% of patients, is clinically significant with a wide range of symptoms including conduction abnormalities, ventricular arrhythmias, heart failure and sudden death. The diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis is challenging and often requires a combined approach using clinical data and advanced imaging. Invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests are helpful in assessing the severity of heart involvement, with non-invasive tests becoming increasingly important, due to low sensitivity (30%) and high complication rate of endomyocardial biopsy for the diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis.&#x0D; Summary: Sarcoidosis significantly increases the mortality of patients and furthermore causes impaired quality of life and disability. Attempts to accurately assess the development of disease provide a more comprehensive and personalized care for patients. Especially cardiac sarcoidosis, as a potentially life-threatening localization, requires early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

An unique case of isolated right upper lobe lung agenesis with abnormal middle lobe segmentation

BackgroundIsolated right upper lobe pulmonary agenesis is a highly uncommon congenital anomaly, usually detected at adulthood when the patient is evaluated for an incidental abnormal chest radiograph. Chest radiography findings are non-specific. Chest computed tomography with pulmonary angiography is the modality of choice for diagnosing pulmonary agenesis.Case presentationWe describe a case of isolated right upper lobe agenesis in a young man who presented with mild shortness of breath and an abnormal chest radiograph. High-resolution computed tomography chest showed right upper lobe pulmonary agenesis which was initially erroneously diagnosed as right lower lobe collapse on chest X-ray. Abnormal segmentation of the middle lobe was also seen which has not been described earlier according to our literature search.ConclusionsThere should be a high index of suspicion for congenital anomalies on chest X-ray to recommend further imaging studies. This case highlights the importance of computed tomography with pulmonary angiography to adequately assess and characterize the congenital lung anomalies.

Occupational hazard analysis of workers exposed to chromate in a steel plant

Objective: To investigate the occupational damage to workers exposed to chromate in a steel plant. Methods: In January 2021, a retrospective analysis was used to select 850 workers exposed to chromate (observation group) and 598 workers not exposed to chromate (control group) in a steel plant in Shandong Province from 2016 to 2017 as the investigation. We collected their occupational-related information, blood routine, fasting blood sugar, nasal lesions, skin lesions, chest X-rays and other inspection results, compared the differences in the abnormal detection rate of the two groups of respondents, and analyzed the occupational hazards of chromium workers. Results: Incidence of nasal damage, skin lesion, up-regulation of ALT (Alanine aminotransferase), abnormal chest radiograph, abnormal serum biochemical index, and abnormal serum glucose level were observed higher in the exposed group than those in the control group (χ(2)=125.69, 12.25, 5.82, 10.37, 10.46, 20.66, P=0.000, 0.000, 0.016, 0.001, 0.001, 0.000). Among the symptoms, the incidence of erythra, nasal septum deviation, nasal mucosal congestion, nasal mucosal erosion and rhinitis were more frequent than those in the control group (χ(2)=101.54, 4.07, 13.20, 32.05, P=0.000, 0.044, 0.000, 0.000). There was no significant increase in the incidence of work type, age, length of work and the area of nasal mucosa erosion in the observation group compared with the control table, and the difference was not statistically significant (χ(2)=5.31、0.42、0.28, P=0.505, 0.662, 0.871) . Conclusion: Occupational hazards of long-term exposure to chromate cannot be ignored. Attention should be paid to strengthening occupational protection and health education of workers exposed to chromium, and increasing their attention.

Serum LDH: a potential surrogate to chest radiograph in pediatric Covid-19 patients to reduce radiation exposure

BackgroundChest radiographs are frequently used to evaluate pediatric patients with COVID-19 infection during the current pandemic. Despite the minimal radiation dose associated with chest radiography, children are far more sensitive to ionizing radiation's carcinogenic effects than adults. This study aimed to examine whether serum biochemical markers could be potentially used as a surrogate for imaging findings to reduce radiation exposure.MethodsThe retrospective posthoc analysis of 187 pediatric patients who underwent initial chest radiographs and serum biochemical parameters on the first day of emergency department admission. The cohort was separated into two groups according to whether or not the initial chest radiograph revealed evidence of pneumonia. Spearman's rank correlation was used to connect serum biochemical markers with observations on chest radiographs. The Student's t-test was employed for normally distributed data, and for non-normally distributed data, the Mann–Whitney U test was used. A simple binary logistic regression was used to determine the importance of LDH in predicting chest radiographs. The discriminating ability of LDH in predicting chest radiographs was determined using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. The cut-off value was determined using Youden's test. Interobserver agreement was quantified using the Cohen k coefficient.Results187 chest radiographs from 187 individual pediatric patients (95 boys and 92 girls; mean age ± SD, 10.1 ± 6.0 years; range, nine months–18 years) were evaluated. The first group has 103 patients who did not have pneumonia on chest radiographs, while the second group contains 84 patients who had evidence of pneumonia on chest radiographs. GGO, GGO with consolidation, consolidation, and peri-bronchial thickening were deemed radiographic evidence of pneumonia in group 2 patients. Individuals in group 2 with radiological indications of pneumonia had significantly higher LDH levels (p = 0.001) than patients in group 1. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between LDH and chest radiography score is 0.425, showing a significant link. With a p-value of < 0.001, the simple binary logistic regression analysis result validated the relevance of LDH in predicting chest radiography. An abnormal chest radiograph was related to LDH > 200.50 U/L (AUC = 0.75), according to the ROC method. Interobserver agreement between the two reviewers was almost perfect for chest radiography results in both groups (k = 0.96, p = 0.001).ConclusionThis study results show that, compared to other biochemical indicators, LDH has an 80.6% sensitivity and a 62% specificity for predicting abnormal chest radiographs in a pediatric patient with confirmed COVID-19 infection. It also emphasizes that biochemical measures, rather than chest radiological imaging, can detect the pathogenic response to COVID-19 infection in the chest earlier. As a result, we hypothesized LDH levels might be potentially used instead of chest radiography in children with COVID-19, reducing radiation exposure.

The Contribution of Chest Radiography to the Clinical Management of Children Exposed to Tuberculosis.

Rationale: Although World Health Organization guidelines emphasize contact investigation for tuberculosis (TB)-exposed children, data that support chest radiography as a useful tool are lacking. Objectives: We evaluated the diagnostic and prognostic information of chest radiography in children exposed to TB and measured the efficacy of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in those with relevant radiographic abnormalities. Methods: Between September 2009 and August 2012, we enrolled 4,468 TB-exposed children who were screened by tuberculin skin testing, symptom assessment, and chest radiography. Those negative for TB disease were followed for 1 year for the occurrence of new TB diagnoses. We assessed the protective efficacy of IPT in children with and without abnormal chest radiographs. Measurements and Main Results: Compared with asymptomatic children with normal chest films, asymptomatic children with abnormal radiographs were 25.1-fold more likely to have coprevalent TB (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-613.76) and 26.7-fold more likely to be diagnosed with incident TB disease during follow-up (95% CI, 10.44-68.30). Among the 29 symptom-negative and CXR-abnormal child contacts, 20% (3/15) of the isoniazid recipients developed incident TB, compared with 57% (8/14) of those who did not receive IPT (82% IPT efficacy). Conclusions: Our results strongly support the use of chest radiography as a routine screening tool for the evaluation of child TB contacts, which is readily available. Radiographic abnormalities not usually considered suggestive of TB may indicate incipient or subclinical disease, although TB preventive treatment is adequate in most cases.

Management of a large tuberculosis contact investigation related to a contaminated bone graft product used in spinal surgery

Background: In March–April 2021, 23 patients at a 906-bed hospital in Delaware had surgical implantation of a bone graft product contaminated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis; 17 patients were rehospitalized for surgical site infections and 6 developed pulmonary tuberculosis. In May 2021, we investigated this tuberculosis outbreak and conducted a large, multidisciplinary, contact investigation among healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients potentially exposed over an extended period in multiple departments. Methods: Exposed HCP were those identified by their managers as present, without the use of airborne precautions, in operating rooms (ORs) during index spine surgeries or subsequent procedures, the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) when patients had draining wounds, inpatient rooms when wound care was performed, and the sterile processing department (SPD) on the days repeated surgeries were performed. We created and assigned an online education module and symptom screening questionnaire to exposed HCP. Employee health services (EHS) instituted a dedicated phlebotomy station to provide interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) testing for HCP at ≥8 weeks after last known exposure. EHS managed all exposed HCP, including nonemployees (eg, private surgeons) via automated e-mail reminders, which were escalated through supervisory chains as needed until follow-up completion. The infection prevention team notified exposed patients, defined as those who shared semiprivate rooms with case patients with transmissible tuberculosis. The Delaware Division of Public Health performed IGRA testing. Results: There were 506 exposed HCP in ORs (n = 100), the PACU (n = 87), inpatient units (n = 140), the SPD (n = 54), and other locations (n = 122); 83% were employed by the health system. Surgical masks and eye protection were routinely used during patient care. All exposed HCP completed screening by December 17, 2021. Furthermore, 2 HCP had positive IGRAs without symptoms or chest radiograph abnormalities, indicating latent tuberculosis infection, but after further review of records and interviews, we discovered that they had previously tested positive and had been treated for latent tuberculosis infection. In addition, 5 exposed patients tested negative and 2 remain pending. Conclusions: This large investigation demonstrated the need for a systematic process that encompassed all exposed HCP including nonemployees and incorporated administrative controls to ensure complete follow-up. We did not identify any conversions related to this outbreak despite high burden of disease in case patients and multiple exposures to contaminated bone-graft material and infectious bodily fluids without respirator use. Transmission risk was likely reduced by baseline surgical mask use and rapid institution of airborne precautions after outbreak recognition.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

Digitally recorded and remotely classified lung auscultation compared with conventional stethoscope classifications among children aged 1–59 months enrolled in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) case–control study

BackgroundDiagnosis of pneumonia remains challenging. Digitally recorded and remote human classified lung sounds may offer benefits beyond conventional auscultation, but it is unclear whether classifications differ between the two approaches....