Evaluation of chest CT and clinical features of COVID-19 patient in Macao

Ieong, Chon Man; Xu, Xi; Kong, Soi Chau; Luo, Liangping

PURPOSE: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was firstly reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and soon after, the number of cases increased rapidly worldwide. As of May 2, 2020, more than 3,000,000 confirmed cases have been reported world. In Macao, there were 45 confirmed COVID-19 cases until May 2, 2020. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, we summarized the radiological features of these cases and analyzed relationship between the clinical characteristics and radiological findings. We retrospectively analyzed the imaging manifestations of the 45 cases with COVID-19 in Macao, focusing on identifying and characterizing the most common radiological findings of COVID-19. We retrospectively analyze the relationship between the clinical features and radiological finding of COVID-19 pneumonia. RESULTS: This study showed that chest CT manifestations of COVID-19 were multiple ground-glass densities in both lungs. It is dominated by bilateral peripheral subpleural distribution, which may be accompanied by consolidation, interlobular septa thickening, and adjacent pleura thickening. As the disease progresses, it can manifest as consolidation of the lungs in CT scan. We also found the age, smoking and hypertension may be risk factor for predicting the severity of COVID-19 in radiology. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 should be diagnosed based on the clinical feature, nCoV PCR test and radiological manifestation. The main manifestation of COVID-19 is peripheral ground glass opacity. Age, smoking and hypertension may be used to predict the severity of COVID-19. Chest CT is the important radiological method for screening and detecting COVID-19 patients.