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

• Published in: Korean journal of radiology Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 494 - 500
• Main Authors: Yoon, Soon Ho, Lee, Kyung Hee, Kim, Jin Yong, Lee, Young Kyung, Ko, Hongseok, Kim, Ki Hwan, Park, Chang Min, Kim, Yun Hyeon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Society of Radiology 01-04-2020; 대한영상의학회
• Subjects: Calcification; Consolidation; Coronavirus Infections - diagnostic imaging; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Female; Granulomas; Humans; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Lungs; Male; Medical imaging; Middle Aged; Patients; Pneumonia; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnostic imaging; Radiography, Thoracic; Republic of Korea; Review boards; Thoracic Imaging; Thorax; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; 방사선과학; Republic of Korea; United States > US; China; COVID-19; Pneumonia; Coronavirus; Computed tomography; Chest X-ray
• ISSN: 1229-6929; 2005-8330; 2005-8330
• DOI: 10.3348/kjr.2020.0132

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.
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.
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 (
= 0.040) and along the pleura (
< 0.001), whereas nodular lesions were primarily distributed along the bronchovascular bundles (
= 0.006).
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.