• Qiongjie Hu, Hanxiong Guan, Ziyan Sun, Lu Huang, Chong Chen, Tao Ai, Yueying Pan, and Liming Xia.
• Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jiefang Dadao 1095(#), Wuhan 430030, PR China.
• Eur J Radiol. 2020 Jul 1; 128: 109017.

PurposeTo analyse the high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) early imaging features and the changing trend of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.Materials And MethodsForty-six patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who had an isolated lesion on the first positive CT were enrolled in this study. The following parameters were recorded for each lesion: sites, sizes, location (peripheral or central), attenuation (ground-glass opacity or consolidation), and other abnormalities (supply pulmonary artery dilation, air bronchogram, interstitial thickening, etc.). The follow-up CT images were compared with the previous CT scans, and the development of the lesions was evaluated.ResultsThe lesions tended to be peripheral and subpleural. All the lesions exhibited ground-glass opacity with or without consolidation. A higher proportion of supply pulmonary artery dilation (89.13 % [41/46]) and air bronchogram (69.57 % [32/46]) were found. Other findings included thickening of the intralobular interstitium and a halo sign of ground glass around a solid nodule. Cavitation, calcification or lymphadelopathy were not observed. The reticular patterns were noted from the 14 days after symptoms onset in 7 of 20 patients (45 %). At 22-31 days, the lesions were completely absorbed only in 2 of 7 patients (28.57 %).ConclusionThe typical early CT features of COVID-19 pneumonia are ground-glass opacity, and located peripheral or subpleural location, and with supply pulmonary artery dilation. Reticulation was evident after the 2nd week and persisted in half of patients evaluated in 4 weeks after the onset. Long-term follow-up is required to determine whether the reticulation represents irreversible fibrosis.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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