Chest Radiographic and CT Findings of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Analysis of Nine Patients Treated in Korea

Yoon, Soon Ho; Lee, Kyung Hee; Kim, Jin Yong; Lee, Young Kyung; Ko, Hongseok; Kim, Ki Hwan; Park, Chang Min; Kim, Yun-Hyeon

In total, 77 lung parenchymal lesions were identified in the nine patients, of whom eight had bilateral kjronline.org lung parenchymal abnormalities. The median numbers of parenchymal lesions and involved lobes were 5 (interquartile range, 2-13) and 2 (interquartile range, 2-5), respectively. The most frequently involved lobe was the right lower lobe (eight patients), followed by the left upper and lower lobes (six patients each). Among the 77 identified lesions, 39% were patchy, 13% were confluent, and 48% were nodular ( Table 2 ). The average diameters of the patchy, confluent, and nodular lesions were 2.6 ± 1.5 cm, 9.8 ± 2.6 cm, and 1.3 ± 0.6 cm, respectively. The peripheral and posterior lung were involved in 78% and 67% of the lesions, respectively. Patchy to confluent lesions were more prevalent than nodular lesions per patient (median relative proportion of patchy to confluent lesions, 86% [interquartile range, 33-100%]). Patchy to confluent lesions primarily manifested as mixed GGO and consolidative lesions (50%) (Fig. 1B, C) , followed by pure GGO lesions (35%) (Fig. 2B, C) , lesions with a crazy-paving appearance (10%), and areas of consolidation (5%). The most frequent shape of the lesions was wedgeshaped (42%), followed by elongated (33%) and confluent (25%). They frequently had an ill-defined margin (70%) and kjronline.org 28% of the lesions had an air-bronchogram. Nodular lesions primarily manifested as pure GGO lesions (57%), followed by predominantly GGO lesions (32%) and predominantly solid lesions (11%). Nodular lesions were round (95%) and had ill-defined margins (75%). There were no cavities, micronodules, lesions with a tree-in-bud appearance, or pleural effusions. Compared to nodular lesions, patchy to confluent lesions were primarily distributed along the pleura (80% vs. 35%; p < 0.001) and more commonly involved the lower lobes (60% vs. 35%; p = 0.040) (Fig. 4A) . The nodular lesions were primarily distributed along the bronchovascular bundles (59% vs. 28%; p = 0.006) (Fig. 4B ) and tended to manifest as pure GGO lesions (57% vs. 35%; p = 0.069).