Korean J Radiol.  2020 Apr;21(4):494-500. 10.3348/kjr.2020.0132.

Chest Radiographic and CT Findings of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Analysis of Nine Patients Treated in Korea

• Yoon SH
• Lee KH
• Kim JY
• Lee YK
• Ko H
• Kim KH
• Park CM
• Kim YH

• KMID: 2471815
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2020.0132

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This study presents a preliminary report on the chest radiographic and computed tomography (CT) findings of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia in Korea.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
As part of a multi-institutional collaboration coordinated by the Korean Society of Thoracic Radiology, we collected nine patients with COVID-19 infections who had undergone chest radiography and CT scans. We analyzed the radiographic and CT findings of COVID-19 pneumonia at baseline. Fisher's exact test was used to compare CT findings depending on the shape of pulmonary lesions.
RESULTS
Three of the nine patients (33.3%) had parenchymal abnormalities detected by chest radiography, and most of the abnormalities were peripheral consolidations. Chest CT images showed bilateral involvement in eight of the nine patients, and a unilobar reversed halo sign in the other patient. In total, 77 pulmonary lesions were found, including patchy lesions (39%), large confluent lesions (13%), and small nodular lesions (48%). The peripheral and posterior lung fields were involved in 78% and 67% of the lesions, respectively. The lesions were typically ill-defined and were composed of mixed ground-glass opacities and consolidation or pure ground-glass opacities. Patchy to confluent lesions were primarily distributed in the lower lobes (p = 0.040) and along the pleura (p < 0.001), whereas nodular lesions were primarily distributed along the bronchovascular bundles (p = 0.006).
CONCLUSION
COVID-19 pneumonia in Korea primarily manifested as pure to mixed ground-glass opacities with a patchy to confluent or nodular shape in the bilateral peripheral posterior lungs. A considerable proportion of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia had normal chest radiographs.

Keyword

Coronavirus; Pneumonia; COVID-19; Chest X-ray; Computed tomography

MeSH Terms

Cooperative Behavior
Coronavirus*
Humans
Korea*
Lung
Pleura
Pneumonia
Radiography
Radiography, Thoracic*
Thorax*
Tomography, X-Ray Computed