Correlation between HRCT Findings of Symptomatic COVID-19 Patient with RT-PCR Test in a Tertiary Hospital of Bangladesh.

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned into a global calamity and affected millions of lives around the world. Even though the vaccination efforts have started, they are yet to have an effective impact on the lower to middle-income countries. Early detection and isolation are still the best way to control the spread of the virus. The standard practice for detecting COVID-19 is the RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test but this test has a high probability of producing false-negative results plus lack of availability at all the time due to shortage of kit. Since COVID-19 is a respiratory disease affecting the lungs and the imaging patterns caused by COVID-19 can be observed in chest HRCT (High Resolution Computed Tomography) scans. As a result, HRCT can be used as an alternative diagnostic modality for any suspected cases of COVID-19. In this cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Radiology and Imaging, BSMMU, Dhaka, Bangladesh from May 12, 2020 to August 10, 2020. Chest HRCT scans of 284 suspected patients irrespective of age and sex who had done RT-PCR test either positive or negative test result having symptoms suggesting COVID pneumonia were enrolled in this study. Patients who had not done RT-PCR and who were not willing to do HRCT chest were excluded. According to the study, ground glass opacity is the most common feature and found in 89.44% of patients. The other predominant features were including consolidation, crazy paving, fibrotic density and vascular enlargement. The diagnostic performance of the CT scan was also evaluated using the RT-PCR test result as the gold standard and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the CT scan diagnosis were found to be 83.2%, 50% and 79.9% respectively. The severity of the five lung lobes has also been studied. The right middle lobe and the left upper lobe seemed to be in more severe condition for most of the patients compared to the other lung lobes.

Doppler prediction of perinatal outcome in pregnancy induced hypertension and intrauterine growth retardation.

This study is done for the pulsatility index (PI) and resistance index (RI) of the "umbilical artery" during pregnancy. We determine the normal range (mean+/-2SD) for various indices in our population and statistical significance of these values in pregnancy induced hypertension and small for gestational age (SGA) babies. One hundred twenty random pregnancies were screened at various periods of gestations. A color Doppler scanner with a carrier frequency of 3.5 MHz was used for studying the umbilical artery. Pregnancies with a normal outcome were used for calculating the normal range of various indices and for testing the specificity and negative predictive value (NPV) of the study. Those pregnancies with an abnormal outcome PIH and SGA babies were used for calculating the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of the study. In normal pregnancies, the flow velocity waveforms (FVWs) showed a good diastolic flow. A low diastolic flow and high indices characterized the pregnancies with abnormal outcomes. Among the umbilical indices, the PI had the highest sensitivity and specificity of 83.33 and 64.28 respectively. Doppler provides a non-invasive method of assessing the fetal and maternal circulation during pregnancy.

A 40 year old man with acute abdomen.

A 40 years old man with the complaints of abdominal pain and per rectal bleeding for 2 days and abdominal distension for 1 day. There was an ill defined, tender intra abdominal solid mass at the left side of the lower abdomen measuring about 3 x 3cm2 on deep palpation. Direct rectal examination could not be done due to excessive pain at the anal region and non co operation of the patient. Plain X-ray of the abdomen A/P view in erect posture including both domes of the diaphragm shows distended large intestinal gas shadow & bottle like radiopaque shadow at the lower mid abdomen. Ultrasonogram (USG) of the abdomen could not be done due to the restlessness of the patient. With all available aseptic precaution the abdomen was opened by a lower midline incision. After exploration of the sigmoid colon two glass bottles (One measuring 10cm x 5 cm, the other 12cm x 7cm) were removed and the colon was closed primarily. There was also a small piece of stone found in the peritoneal cavity measuring 2 cm in diameter which was sent for histopathology. Post operative period was uneventful. The patient was discharged with advice on the 8th POD.