Findings of Serial Computed Tomography Imaging in Patients with Coronavirus Disease-19

AIM: We investigated the serial changes of chest computed tomography (CT) in patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) presenting with viral-induced lung damage on follow-up CT. METHODS: We evaluated 66 patients with confirmed COVID-19, who had undergone at least two chest CTs from February 24 to April 21, 2020. Nine patients also had a third CT. All patients demonstrated viral-induced lung damage (organizing pneumonia-like pattern) on second CT. The involvement pattern of each lobe and the extent of infiltration (based on CT score) were assessed on serial CTs to determine changes throughout the disease course. Patients’ demographic and clinical data and final outcome were also recorded. RESULTS: Mean age (standard deviation [SD]) of patients was 56.04 (15.2) years old; 51.5% were male. About 93.9% of patients had survived. Mean (SD) interval between the first and second CT and second and third CT was 7.6 (5.9) and 16.8 (8.3) days, respectively. The extent of total lung involvement was significantly higher in the second CT compared with the first CT (p < 0.001) and also increased non-significantly in the third CT (p = 0.29). The right lower lobe persistently had the highest CT score through the disease course. CONCLUSION: Evaluation of serial CT imaging can reveal information regarding the stage of COVID-19, thus providing help for appropriate treatment planning.