COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AS A METOD OF PREDICTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF COVID-19

Abstract

Summary. The National Health Commission of China has concluded that the most vulnerable are elderly patients with comorbid conditions. The most common complication of coronavirus disease in patients is lung damage, which is now treated as "community-acquired pneumonia" (CAP). Despite the existence of modern methods of identification of various pathogenic microorganisms, in about half of the cases the causative agent of pneumonia, including community-acquired, is not detected. Therefore, for the diagnosis of associated pneumonia virus, a method such as computed tomography is of particular importance.

The aim of the study – analysis of computed tomography data as a method of visualization of changes and control of the dynamics of lung tissue damage in patients with virus-associated pneumonia.

Materials and Methods. We assessed 48 patients with suspected viral pneumonia using a GE OPTINA CT 520 computed tomography (2017). Gender was not taken into account, age 40–75 years. Examination protocol: 120kV, 350 mA, step 5mm. Reconstruction: Lung – 1.25 mm (thickness), STD – 0.625 mm (thickness).

Results. We conducted a comparative assessment of clinical characteristics and features of imaging among participants in two groups, which differed in severity: moderate (group 1) and severe (group 2). Accordingly, among patients included in group 1, the predominant age was 40–60 years (74.2%), a significant proportion of whom complained of fever (78.2 %), shortness of breath (67.6 %) and general weakness (80.2 %) as the primary manifestations of the disease. And only in 9 (18.7 %) people the development of pathology was associated with an infectious outbreak in a certain environment. All patients with severe disease belonged to the older age groups. In general, in the analysis of tomogram parameters, such as distorted lung pattern, the presence of bronchiectasis and effusion in the pleural cavity, this may indicate in favor of viral lesions, statistically different in patients of these comparison groups.

Conclusions. Computed tomography has been shown to be an effective tool for diagnosing viral lung disease. It is recommended computed tomography to be used as the best method to visualize the development, extent and dynamics of associated changes in the pneumonia virus.