Evaluation of Computed Tomography Images Compatible with COVID-19 in Cases of Viral Pneumonia Undiagnosed Before the Pandemic

Abstract

Objective

COVID-19 has a wide clinical spectrum, from cases with mild symptoms to cases with severe lung involvement. After the first cases appeared in Wuhan, the virus spread rapidly without understanding its transmission routes and clinical significance. The aim of the study is to show that SARS-CoV-2 caused undiagnosed COVID-19 pneumonia cases in Turkey with the effect of increased transportation facilities and rapid viral spread in the pre-pandemic period.

Methods

Study was designed observational cross-sectional study. In this study were retrospectively analyzed 350 patients, who were conducted computed tomography after pre-diagnosis of pneumonia in the radiology department of our hospital before March 1, 2020. Radiologically, the severity of pneumonic involvement was measured and scored. Demographic characteristics, laboratory findings and symptoms of the patients were examined. The relationship between the clinical course of the patients and radiology involvement was examined. SPSS 23.0 package program was used for statistical analysis and p <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

The average age of the twelve patients was 70,3±17,3.  Patients male/female ratio was 3/9. Symptomatology and co-morbidities were similar. There was no statistically significant difference in laboratory data between the died and surviving patient groups. When the radiological pneumonia involvement patterns of the deceased and surviving patients were compared, it was seen that the right middle, right lower, left middle lobe involvement and total radiological scores were statistically significantly higher in the deceased group than in the surviving patients (p <0.05).

Conclusion 

The cases reported before the pandemic in various parts of the world show that the virus spread between countries has reached a size that makes it impossible to detect the cases and that the epidemic is striking than expected. Tomography is an important diagnostic tool for detecting cases that cannot be detected by serological and molecular tests and taking precautions by monitoring the outbreak.