• Xiaoming Li, Wenbing Zeng, Xiang Li, Haonan Chen, Linping Shi, Xinghui Li, Hongnian Xiang, Yang Cao, Hui Chen, Chen Liu, and Jian Wang.
• Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital to Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
• J Transl Med. 2020 Apr 6; 18 (1): 154.

BackgroundSince the first case of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection pneumonia was detected in Wuhan, China, a series of confirmed cases of the COVID-19 were found in Southwest China. The aim of this study was to describe the imaging manifestations of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection in southwest China.MethodsIn this retrospective study, data were collected from 131 patients with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from 3 Chinese hospitals. Their common clinical manifestations, as well as characteristics and evolvement features of chest CT images, were analyzed.ResultsA total of 100 (76%) patients had a history of close contact with people living in Wuhan, Hubei. The clinical manifestations of COVID-19 included cough, fever. Most of the lesions identified in chest CT images were multiple lesions of bilateral lungs, lesions were more localized in the peripheral lung, 109 (83%) patients had more than two lobes involved, 20 (15%) patients presented with patchy ground glass opacities, patchy ground glass opacities and consolidation of lesions co-existing in 61 (47%) cases. Complications such as pleural thickening, hydrothorax, pericardial effusion, and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes were detected but only in rare cases. For the follow-up chest CT examinations (91 cases), We found 66 (73%) cases changed very quickly, with an average of 3.5 days, 25 cases (27%) presented absorbed lesions, progression was observed in 41 cases (46%), 25 (27%) cases showed no significant changes.ConclusionChest CT plays an important role in diagnosing COVID-19. The imaging pattern of multifocal peripheral ground glass or mixed consolidation is highly suspicious of COVID-19, that can quickly change over a short period of time.

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