Severity Assessment in COVID-19 Pneumonia: Comparison of Semi-Quantitative and Quantitative CT Analyses

Objective: To investigate the performance of semi-quantitative CT (SCT) and automated quantitative CT (QCT) analyses for differentiating mild disease from the severe disease in COVID-19 pneumonia. Materials and Methods: Sixty-seven laboratory confirmed COVID-19 patients were enrolled. The patients were grouped into mild and severe disease regarding clinical features. CT images were evaluated by three observers independently. Three different SCT scoring methods and QCT analysis were performed. The two disease groups were compared in terms of SCT and QCT parameters. Intraclass correlation coefficient was used to investigate inter-rater reliability. The performance of SCT and QCT in the differentiation of mild disease and severe disease was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. Results: Inter-rater reliability was excellent for all SCT scores. SCT and QCT scores were significantly different between two disease groups (p<0.05). Five-point score showed the best performance regarding to area under curve (AUC) values. The cut-off value of >7 for 5-point score had 88.89% sensitivity and 82.76% specificity and cut-off value of >10.29% for QCT score (%) had 75.00% sensitivity and 98.04% specificity for differentiating the mild disease from severe disease. Conclusion: QCT may play an important role in the management of COVID-19 pneumonia with its high specificity values. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Amaç: COVID-19 pnömonisinde hafif hastalığı şiddetli hastalıktan ayırt etmede semi-kantitatif BT (SBT) ve kantitatif-BT (KBT) analizlerinin performansını karşılaştırmak. Yöntem: Çalışmaya 67 laboratuvar tarafından doğrulanmış COVID-19 hastası dahil edildi. Hastalar klinik özelliklerine göre hafif ve ağır hasta olarak gruplandırıldı. BT görüntüleri bağımsız olarak üç gözlemci tarafından değerlendirildi. Üç farklı SBT skorlama yöntemi ve KBT analizi uyulandı. Íki hastalık grubu SBT ve KBT parametreleri açısından karşılaştırıldı. Gözlemciler arası güvenilirliği araştırmak için sınıf içi korelasyon katsayısı kullanıldı. Hafif hastalık ve ağır hastalık ayrımında SBT ve KBT'nin performansı, ROC analizi kullanılarak değerlendirildi. Bulgular:Gözlemciler arası güvenilirlik, tüm SBT skorları için mükemmeldi. SBT ve KBT değerleri hafif ve ağır hastalık grupları arasında anlamlı olarak farklıydı (p<0.05). Eğri altındaki alan (EAA) göz önüne alındığında SBT skorlama yöntemleri arasında beşli skorlama en iyi performansı gösterdi. ROC analizinde beşli skorlama için en uyun kesim noktası 7 olarak belirlenmiş olup bu değere ait duyarlılık %88.89, özgüllük %82.76 olarak hesaplanmıştır. KBT değeri (%) için kesim noktası %10.29 olarak belirlendiğinde duyarlılık değeri %75.00, özgüllük değeri ise %98.04 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Sonuç:KBT, yüksek özgüllük değerleri ile COVID-19 pnömonisinin yönetiminde önemli bir rol oynayabilir. (Turkish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Gazi Medical Journal is the property of Gazi Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Impacts of Covıd-19 Pandemıc on Breast Imagıng Examınatıons

Objective: To investigate breast imaging case number changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to same time periods in the years of 2019 and 2020 in our tertiary referral hospital. Materials and methods: Between April 2019 to July 2019 and between April 2020 to July 2020, total numbers for mammography, breast ultrasound and breast MRI cases that were obtained in breast imaging center of our hospital were noted for each month. Descriptive statistics of the data consisted of monthly case numbers for each breast imaging modality. Percentage changes of overall cases numbers and monthly case numbers for each breast imaging modality were calculated for the determined time periods (April to July) between the years of 2019 and 2020. Results: In April to July 2020, there was an apparent decline in case numbers for each breast imaging modality when compared to same timespan in 2019. The percentage decreases in overall case numbers for breast imaging modalities varied between 41.7% to 64.4%. Among breast imaging modalities, the sharpest decline in case numbers was detected on mammography. Conclusion: The current study revealed that COVID-19 pandemic caused a marked decrease in all breast imaging case volumes particularly in the first two months of the pandemic.

Relationship between chest computed tomography findings and clinical conditions of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): A multicentre experience.

AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the clinical and chest computed tomography (CT) features associated with clinical parameters for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the capital of Turkey, Ankara. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Epidemiological, clinical features, laboratory findings and radiological characteristics of 1563 hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in Ankara were collected, reviewed and analysed in this study. The risk factors associated with disease severity were investigated. RESULTS: Non-severe (1214; 77.7%) and severe cases (349; 22.3%) were enrolled in the study. Compared with the non-severe group, the severe group were significantly older and had more comorbidities (ie, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease). Smoking was more common in the severe group. Severe patients had higher respiratory rates and higher incidences of cough and dyspnoea compared with non-severe patients. Compared with the non-severe patients, the severe patients had increased C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and CRP/albumin ratio and decreased albumin. The occurrence rates of consolidation, subpleural sparing, crazy-paving pattern, cavity, halo sign, reversed halo sign, air bronchogram, pleural thickening, micronodule, subpleural curvilinear line and multilobar and bilateral involvement in the CT finding of the severe patients were significantly higher than those of the non-severe patients. CONCLUSIONS: Many factors are related to the severity of COVID-19, which can help clinicians judge the severity of the patient and evaluate the prognosis. This cohort study revealed that male sex, age (≥55 years), patients with any comorbidities, especially those with cardiovascular disease, dyspnoea, increased CRP, D-dimer and NLR, and decreased lymphocyte count and CT findings of consolidation and multilobar involvement were predictors of severe COVID-19.