Small Solitary Ground-Glass Nodule on CT as an InitialManifestation of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)Pneumonia

ABSTRACT

The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in 2019 led to large numbers of peoplebeing infected and developing atypical pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19). Typical imaging manifestations ofpatients infected with 2019-nCoV has been reported, but we encountered an atypical radiological manifestation on baselinecomputed tomography (CT) images in three patients from Wuhan, China infected with the 2019-nCoV. Surprisingly, the onlysimilar CT finding was a solitary sub-centimeter ground-glass nodule adjacent to bronchovascular bundles, which could beeasily overlooked. In addition, the follow-up images in these patients showed how COVID-19 pneumonia evolved from thesesmall nodules. The radiologic manifestation of the three cases will expand contemporary understanding of COVID-19.