Journal of Health Care and Research

Journal of Health Care and Research

Sevtap Gülgösteren¹, Melike Aloğlu¹, Bilge Akgündüz^2*, Atila Gökçek³, Şükran Atikcan^1
1Department of Chest Diseases, Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Health Science University, Ankara, Turkey
²Department of Occupational Diseases, Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Health Science University, Ankara, Turkey
³Department of Radiology, Atatürk Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Education and Research Hospital, Health Science University, Ankara, Turkey

Corresponding Author: Bilge Akgündüz (Üzmezoğlu), MD
Address: Pulmonologist & Occupational Diseases Specialist, Eskişehir City Hospital, 26080 Odunpazarı Eskişehir, Turkey.
Received date: 05 May 2021; Accepted date: 07 June 2021; Published date: 15 June 2021

Citation: Gülgösteren S, Aloğlu M, Akgündüz B, Gökçek A, Atikcan Ş. Characteristics of Thoracic CT Findings in Differentiating COVID-19 Pneumonia from Non-COVID-19 Viral Pneumonia. J Health Care and Research. 2021 Jun 15;2(2):110-18.

Copyright © 2021 Gülgösteren S, Aloğlu M, Akgündüz B, Gökçek A, Atikcan Ş. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords: COVID-19, Thoracic CT, Vascular Enlargement, Viral Pneumonia

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (COVID-19 RT-PCR) positive predictive value is low. COVID-19 RT-PCR negative patients with pneumonia were not rare. It is difficult to distinguish COVID-19 pneumonia between other viral pneumonias radiologically and clinically. We aimed to find whether there was any different radiological finding in COVID-19 pneumonia with the other viral agents that caused pneumonia.
Material and Methods: The study was designed retrospectively. 78 patients who underwent Thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) and COVID-19 RT-PCR were included in the study. Other viral Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests were performed on 33 patients.
Results: 22 patients had COVID-19 PCR positive and 11 patients had non-COVID-19 PCR positive. 8 patients had influenza A and B, and 3 patients had adenovirus. In both groups, lung parenchymal lesions were predominantly located in the upper lobes and peripheral. 31 (93.9%) patients had ground-glass density lesions, 24 (72.7%) patients had consolidation, and 5 (15.2%) patients had crazy paving lesions. 1(3.0%) patient had a halo sign. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of the features of the parenchymal lesions, except for vascular enlargement. Vascular enlargement was only seen in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (p: 0.019).
Conclusion: Radiologically, the vascular enlargement sign seems to be specific to COVID-19 disease and it can be used to differentiate COVID-19 pneumonia from other viral pneumonias.