The Prevalence and Incidence of Different Lung Parenchymal Changes on CT Chest Caused By COVID Pneumonia through Follow Up Course

Abstract

COVID-19 pneumonia episodes had been present in Wuhan, China, since December 2019. It looks like ground glass lesions, consolidation patches, and sometimes alveolar exudates with interlobular involvement. Chest CT can show these signs before (RT-PCR) and is considered a gold standard for affirming COVID-19 recently. Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the relevance and value of chest CT in diagnosing and following up with the disease. Materials and Methods:  A cross-sectional, retrospective study in the radiology department at Badr University Hospitals. 60 individuals were included in the 6-month study, which lasted from September 2021 to March 2022. Initial imaging was taken with follow-up imaging after 6 weeks in most cases. A third CT was due to the disease severity, and two of them had an earlier. Multi-detector CT chest obtained with 1 mm thick without an inter-slice gap. Results: There were 45% men and 55% females. For CT abnormalities there were 90% of cases showed GGO, 63.3% with vascular enlargement, 26.5% for traction bronchiectasis, and the lowest percentages were for sub-pleural lines (3.3%). There were a statistically significant decrease in GGO cases with (p-value= 0.03) and an increase in the sub-pleural line with a p-value of 0.01 on follow-up. A significant increase in the percentage of completely free CT patients in CTSS grades was seen on follow-up with (p-value =0.04). Conclusion: CT chest can help in following up with the patients and predicting the course of the disease according to the visualized signs of lung parenchyma