The relationship between lesion density change in chest computed tomography and clinical improvement in COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association of changes in chest computed tomography (CT) lesion densities with clinical improvement in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional analysis of hospitalised COVID-19 patients who underwent repeated chest CT. Patients who improved clinically but showed radiological progression were included. Demographic data, presentation complaints and laboratory results were retrieved from the electronic database of the hospital. Lesion density that was measured in Hounsfield units was compred between admission and discharge chest CT scans. RESULTS: Forty patients (21 males, mean age 47.4 ± 15.1 years) were included in the analysis. The median white blood cell count and C-reactive protein significantly decreased, whereas the median lymphocyte count significantly increased at discharge compared with the admission values. The mean density significantly reduced from admission to discharge. CONCLUSION: This is the first study in the literature reporting reduction in chest CT lesion densities correlated with clinical and laboratory improvement in COVID-19 patients.

IONIZING RADIATION EXPOSURE IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19: MORE THAN NEEDED.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the ionizing radiation exposure in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study in which all patients presented with suggestive symptoms of COVID-19 were included. The study was carried out in a university-affiliated private hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Biological radiation dose exposure (cumulative effective dose: CED) was evaluated in millisievert (mSv) units. RESULTS: A total of 1410 patients were included in the study. Of all study subjects, 804 patients (57%) underwent only one chest computed tomography (CT) procedure. Six hundred and six patients (43%) had two or more chest CT procedures. Median CED was 6.02 (min-max:1.67-16.27) mSv. The number of patients who were exposed to ≤ 5 mSv were 149 (24.6%), whereas 457 patients (75.4%) were exposed to >5 mSv. CONCLUSION: The radiation exposure in COVID-19 patients seems unjustifiably high. Awareness should be increased as to the proper use of chest CT in COVID-19 as per to the society recommendations.

Retrospective analysis of the first 50 emergency/elective surgical cases in terms of mortality and morbidity in CoVid-19 Pandemic Hospital in Istanbul.

2019-nCoV currently named SARS-CoV-2 is a highly pathogenic Coronavirus identified in Wuhan China in December 2019. Turkey declared the first case relatively late compared to Asian and European countries on March 11, as the first SARS-CoV-2 infection in Turkey. In this study, we aimed to determine patients' outcomes in 50 surgeries done in the incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 in our hospital. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 50 patients who underwent surgeries during the incubation period of CoVid-19 at Istinye University Gaziosmanpasa Medical Park Hospital in Istanbul, from March 2 to April 11, 2020. RESULTS: The age of 50 patients range was 21 to 73, and the median age was 43.32 (64%) patients were women. The median length of hospital stay is 2.6 days (1-21). Operations at various difficulty levels were also performed on patients with co-morbidities. No complication or mortality was observed except for 1 patient, and the ICU requirement of that patient was also due to high energy trauma. CONCLUSION: Although contrary claims have been made in various studies; it is the primary duty of us surgeons to operate CoVid-19 positive/suspicious patients safely and without any contamination, and on the other hand, to continue their operations without victimizing negative patients. In this pilot study, we would like to emphasize with necessary and adequate measures these can be achieved. KEY WORDS: CoVid-19, SARS-CoV-2, Surgery.

Effectiveness of Computed Tomography in the Diagnosis of Novel Coronavirus-2019.

Coronaviruses (CoV) belong to the coronavirus genus of the coronaviridae family. All CoVs are pleomorphic RNA viruses containing crown-like peplomers of 80-160 nm in size. This virus is a zoonotic pathogen seen with a wide range of clinical features from asymptomatic state to intensive care in humans. So far, seven human coronaviruses have been identified with the last one being Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19). These pathogens typically lead to mild disease, but SARS and MERS type coronaviruses have caused severe respiratory disease and even mortality within the last 20 years. COVID-19 virus has rapidly spread worldwide after China and is continuing to cause huge economical and social impacts. Given the scarcity of resources including healthcare staff, hospital capacities, test kits, etc., timely diagnosis and treatment of this virus are of paramount importance. However, there is no vaccination or drug developed for the treatment of this disease up to today. Because the spreading rate of the virus is very high worldwide and there is no definitive treatment, diagnosis becomes even more important. The objective of this review is to evaluate the use of chest computed tomography, one of the commonly used radiologic imaging modalities, in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in light with the current literatüre.