Chest CT sfindings of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A comprehensive meta-analysis of 9907 confirmed patients

Zarifian, Ahmadreza; Nour, Mohammad Ghasemi; Rezayat, Arash Akhavan; Oskooei, Reza Rahimzadeh; Abbasi, Bita; Sadeghi, Ramin

OBJECTIVES: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of chest CT findings in patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection.Methods: Systematic review of the literature was performed using PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar to retrieve original studies on chest CT findings of patients with confirmed COVID-19, available up to 10 May 2020. Data on prevalence and distribution of chest CT findings were extracted from eligible studies, pooled and meta-analyzed using random-effects model to calculate prevalence data of chest CT findings. RESULTS: Overall, 103 studies (pooled population: 9907 confirmed COVID-19 patients) were meta-analyzed. Most common CT findings were ground-glass opacities (GGOs) (77.18%, 95%CI = 72.23–81.47), reticulations (46.24%, 95%CI = 38.51–54.14), and air bronchogram (41.61%, 95%CI = 32.78–51.01). Pleural thickening (33.35%, 95%CI = 21.89–47.18) and bronchial wall thickening (15.48%, 95%CI = 8.54–26.43) were major atypical and airway findings. Findings were predominantly distributed bilaterally (75.72%, 95%CI = 70.79–80.06) and peripherally (65.64%, 95%CI = 58.21–72.36), while 8.20% (95%CI = 6.30–10.61) of patients had no abnormal findings and pre-existing lung diseases were present in 6.01% (95%CI = 4.37–8.23). CONCLUSIONS: The most common CT findings in COVID-19 are GGOs with/without consolidation, reticulations, and air bronchogram, which mostly involved both lungs with peripheral distribution. However, COVID-19 might present with atypical manifestations or no abnormal findings in chest CT, which deserve clinicians' notice.