Radiological profile of patients undergoing Chest X-ray and computed tomography scans during COVID-19 outbreak

Sohail Ahmed Khan; Murli Manohar; Maria Khan; Samita Asad; Syed Omair Adil

doi:10.12669/pjms.37.5.4290

Sohail Ahmed Khan Dow University of Health Sciences
Murli Manohar Associate Professor, Dow Institute of Radiology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan
Maria Khan Instructor, Dow Institute of Radiology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan
Samita Asad Resident, Dow Institute of Radiology, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan
Syed Omair Adil Lecturer Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.4290

Keywords: COVID-19, Computed tomography, X-Ray, Chest

Abstract

Background & Objective: Radiology has played a significant role in the diagnosis and quantifying the severity of COVID 19 pulmonary disease. This study was conducted to assess patterns and severity of COVID-19 pulmonary disease based on radiological imaging.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in a large tertiary care public sector teaching hospital of Karachi, Pakistan from June 2020 till August 2020. All confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients referred for chest X-rays and computed tomography (CT) scans were evaluated along with RT-PCR results. Suspected patients were followed for RT-PCR. Radiological features and severity of imaging studies were determined.

Results: Of 533 patients in whom X-rays were performed, majority had severe/critical findings, i.e., 304 (57.03%). Of 97 patients in whom CT scan was performed, mild/moderate findings were observed in 63 (64.94%) patients. Of 472 patients with abnormal X-rays, majority presented with alveolar pattern 459 (97.2%), bilateral lung involvement 453 (89.6%), and consolidation 356 (75.4%). Moreover, lobar predominance showed lower zone preponderance in 446 (94.5%) patients. Of 88 patients with abnormal CT findings, ground-glass opacity (GGO) 87 (98.9%) and crazy paving 69 (78.4%) were the most common findings. An insignificantly higher association of PCR positive cases was observed with severe/critical X-rays (p-value 0.076) and CT scan findings (p-value 0.431).

Conclusion: Most common patterns on CT scans were GGO and crazy paving. While on chest radiographs, bilateral lung involvement with alveolar pattern and consolidation were most common findings. On X-rays, majority had severe/critical whereas CT scan had mild/moderate findings.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.4290

How to cite this:
Khan SA, Manohar M, Khan M, Asad S, Adil SO. Radiological profile of patients undergoing Chest X-ray and computed tomography scans during COVID-19 outbreak. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(5):1288-1294. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.5.4290

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.