CT imaging features of 4121 patients with COVID‐19: A meta‐analysis

Zhu, Jieyun; Zhong, Zhimei; Li, Hongyuan; Ji, Pan; Pang, Jielong; Li, Bocheng; Zhang, Jianfeng

OBJECTIVE: We systematically reviewed the computed tomography (CT) imaging features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) to provide reference for clinical practice. METHODS: Our article comprehensively searched PubMed, FMRS, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang databases, and VIP databases to collect literatures about the CT imaging features of COVID‐19 from 1 January to 16 March 2020. Three reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, and then, this meta‐analysis was performed by using Stata12.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 34 retrospective studies involving a total of 4121 patients with COVID‐19 were included. The results of the meta‐analysis showed that most patients presented bilateral lung involvement (73.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 65.9%‐81.1%) or multilobar involvement (67.3%, 95% CI: 54.8%‐78.7%) and just little patients showed normal CT findings (8.4%). We found that the most common changes in lesion density were ground‐glass opacities (68.1%, 95% CI: 56.9%‐78.2%). Other changes in density included air bronchogram sign (44.7%), crazy‐paving pattern (35.6%), and consolidation (32.0%). Patchy (40.3%), spider web sign (39.5%), cord‐like (36.8%), and nodular (20.5%) were common lesion shapes in patients with COVID‐19. Pleural thickening (27.1%) was found in some patients. Lymphadenopathy (5.4%) and pleural effusion (5.3%) were rare. CONCLUSION: The lung lesions of patients with COVID‐19 were mostly bilateral lungs or multilobar involved. The most common chest CT findings were patchy and ground‐glass opacities. Some patients had air bronchogram, spider web sign, and cord‐like. Lymphadenopathy and pleural effusion were rare.