Early clinical and CT features of COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia from a fever observation ward in Ningbo, China

INTRODUCTION@#We aimed to compare the early clinical manifestations, laboratory results and chest computed tomography (CT) images of COVID-19 patients with those of other community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients to differentiate CAP from COVID-19 before reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction results are obtained.@*METHODS@#The clinical and laboratory data and chest CT images of 51 patients were assessed in a fever observation ward for evidence of COVID-19 between January and February 2020.@*RESULTS@#24 patients had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, whereas 27 individuals had negative results. No statistical difference in clinical features was found between COVID-19 and CAP patients, except for diarrhoea. There was a significant difference in lymphocyte and eosinophil counts between COVID-19 and CAP patients. In total, 22 (91.67%) COVID-19 patients had bilateral involvement and multiple lesions according to their lung CT images; the left lower lobe (87.50%) and right lower lobe (95.83%) were affected most often, and all lesions were located in the peripheral zones of the lung. The most common CT feature of COVID-19 was ground-glass opacity, found in 95.83% of patients, compared to 66.67% of CAP patients.@*CONCLUSION@#Diarrhoea, lymphocyte counts, eosinophil counts and CT findings (e.g. ground-glass opacity) could help to distinguish COVID-19 from CAP at an early stage of infection, based on findings from our fever observation ward.

Hemodynamics assessment by perfusion computed tomography in a canine model of portal hypertension / 中华普通外科杂志

Objective To evaluate perfusion computed tomography in the assessment of portal vein pressure changes in an experimental dog model of liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension.Methods The canine model of cirrhosis and portal hypertension was induced by portal vein stenosis with combination of systemic thioacetamide(TAA) feeding in drinking water.All of the Beagles in control group and cirrhotic group underwent hepatic perfusion on a spiral CT scanner.The parameters of hepatic perfusion were calculated by the method of deconvolution.The portal vein pressure was measured by a laparotomy surgery.Results ① In control group, the portal vein pressure was ( 14.5 ± 2.2) cm H2O, while it was (23.1 ± 2.8) cm H2O in PHT group, there was significant difference in the portal vein pressure between the two groups (P＜0.05).② The blood flow(BF) was (112 ±14) ml·100 g-1·min-1 in controls, while ( 96 ± 11) ml·100 g-1·min-1 in PHT group; the blood volume ( BV ) in control group and PHT group was (10 ±3) ml·100 g-1 and (11 ± 5) ml· 100 g-1, respectively; the mean transit time( MTT) was (7.1 ± 2.0) s and (10.4 ± 3.5) s, respectively; the hepatic arterial fraction (HAF) was ( 24 ± 5) % and ( 37 ± 6)% , respectively; the hepatic arterial perfusion (HAP) was(27 ±6) ml·100 g-1·min-1 and (35 ±5) ml·100 g-1·min-1, respectively; the portal venous perfusion (PVP) was (85 ± 13) ml·100 g-1·min-1 and (61 ±11) ml·100 g-1·min-1, respectively.There was significant difference in all parameters between the two groups except the parameter BV(P ＜ 0.05).③ In PHT group, the PVP and BF were negatively correlated with the portal vein pressure, while positively correlated with MTT and HAF.Portal vein pressure was negatively correlated with PVP, the equation, Y = 36.624 -0.219X, was deduced with linear regression analysis, by which the portal vein pressure in PHT Beagles was ( 23.2 ± 2.4) cm H2O, which was correlated with the observed by laparotomy value (23.1 ± 2.8) cm H2O (r = 0.843, P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion CT perfusion is a new non-invasive and effective method for assessment of portal vein pressure.

Comparative study between multi-slice CT angiography and digital subtraction angiography in detection of intracranial micro-aneurysms / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To investigate the value of multi-slice computed tomography angiography (MSCTA)in the detection of intracranial micro-aneurysms(aneurysm≤3 mm in maximal diameter, IMA).Methods The clinical history and images of 826 patients with suspected intracranial aneurysms were retrospectively analyzed.All patients underwent MSCTA on 16-slice row CT before hospitalization(from 2 h to 4 d after symtom onset).All intracranial aneurysms were confirmed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA), three-dimensional rotational angiography (3DRA) or surgery.Two independent radiologists assessed all the images.The MSCTA findings were compared with the DSA/3DRA results.The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MSCTA for diagnosis of IMA was calculated.The diagnostic consistency between DSA/3 DRA and MSCTA was determined by Kappa statistics.The prevalence of multiple aneurysms between the group of patients with IMA and the group of patients without IMA was evaluated by Chi-square test Results A total of 889 aneurysms in 788 of the 826 patients were detected.Among them, 706 patients had single aneurysm and 82 patients had multiple aneurysms.No aneurysms were detected in 38 patients.Among the 212 patients who underwent DSA/3 DRA, 271 aneurysms were found and 232 were IMA.MSCTAdetected 229 IMA.There was 1 false-positive finding and 4 false-negative findings by MSCTA.The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of MSCTA for IMA was 98.3% (228/232), 97.4% (38/39), 98.2% (266/271).There was excellent agreement between two techniques (Kappa=0.927, P<0.05).The prevalence of multiple aneurysms was 21.2% (45/212) in the patient group with IMA and 6.4% (37/576) in the group without IMA.There was statistically significant difference between the two groups (X~2=36.421, P<0.01).Conclusions The detection value of IMA by MSCTA was high.The cutoff level of diameter of intracranial IMA should be adjusted from 4-5 mm to ≤3 mm.

Evaluation of hemodynamic outcomes after carotid artery stenting using cerebral perfusion CT / 中华放射学杂志

Objective To evaluate 1-week and 1-year outcomes of carotid artery stenting (CAS)using cerebral perfusion CT(PCT). Methods The clinical database of 20 patients with unilateral carotid artery stenosis( ≥60% ) who underwent CAS were retrospectively reviewed. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), relative cerebral blood flow(rCBF) and relative mean transit time( rMTT) were measured by using cerebral PCT within one week before CAS and at one week and at one year after CAS. Cerebral MRI was performed within one week before CAS. The noncontrast CT was performed within one week before CAS and immediately after CAS. The arteriography was performed at one year after CAS. The variance analysis was performed to determine whether there were significant differences of rCBV, rCBF, rMTT in anterior cerebral artery area( ACA area), middle cerebral artery area( MCA area), posterior cerebral artery area( PCA area),basal ganglia area, front and back cortical watershed area( CWS area) and internal watershed area( IWS area) among the different time points. Results In the three measures, there was no significant difference of rCBV in all areas among the three time points( P ＞ 0. 05 ) , and there was no significant difference of rCBF and rMTT in PCA area( P ＞ 0. 05 ), but there were significant differences of rCBF and rMTT in all other areas among the three time ponits(P ＜0. 01). In one week before CAS, at one week and at one year after CAS, rCBF of 20 patients is 0. 86 ±0. 06, 0. 95 ±0. 04, 0. 98 ±0. 07 in ACA area, 0. 81 ±0. 04, 1.06 ±0. 04, 1.03 ±0.07 in MCA area, 0. 84 ±0. 06, 0. 97 ±0. 04, 0. 96 ±0. 04 in basal ganglia, 0. 78 ±0. 03,0. 97 ±0. 03, 0. 96 ±0. 02 in front CWS area, 0. 77 ±0. 03, 1.00 ±0. 02, 0. 98 ±0. 03 in back CWS area,and 0. 80 ± 0. 04, 0. 94 ± 0. 03, 0. 93 ± 0. 04 in IWS area ( F = 18. 95, 146. 41,63.03,540. 85,415.97,164.19, P＜0. 01). rMTT is 1.17 ±0.05, 1.04±0.04, 1.01 ±0.06 in ACA area, 1.41±0.06, 1.08±0.04, 1.07±0.04 in MCA area, 1.20±0.06, 1.06±0.04, 1.05±0.04 in basal ganglia, 1.41 ±0.05,1.10 ±0. 05, 1.09 ±0. 04 in front CWS area, 1.43 ±0. 10, 1.07 ±0. 06, 1.08 ±0. 06 in back CWS area,1.29±0.10, 1.09 ±0.05, 1.11 ±0.07 in IWS area (F=51.74, 248. 89, 70.08, 381.68, 288.94,41.53, P ＜0. 01 ). There were significant differences of rCBF and rMTT between those measured one week before CAS and one week or one year after CAS ( P ＜ 0. 01 ), but there were no significant differences of rCBF or rMTT in any area measured between those at 1 week after CAS and those measured at 1 year after CAS(P＞0.05). Conclusions Hemodynamic outcome at one year after CAS is good in the absence of contralateral carotid artery steno-occlusive disease. In addition, the coherence of results between 1-week and 1-year indicates that the outcome of one week after CAS could predict long-term hemodynamic outcome.