Korean Journal of Radiology

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

  • Soon Ho Yoon (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital) ;
  • Kyung Hee Lee (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) ;
  • Jin Yong Kim (Department of Internal Medicine, Incheon Medical Center) ;
  • Young Kyung Lee (Department of Radiology, Seoul Medical Center) ;
  • Hongseok Ko (Department of Radiology, National Medical Center) ;
  • Ki Hwan Kim (Department of Radiology, Myongji Hospital) ;
  • Chang Min Park (Department of Radiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital) ;
  • Yun-Hyeon Kim (Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hospital)
  • Received : 2020.02.17
  • Accepted : 2020.02.18
  • Published : 2020.04.01
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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.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge Andrew Dombrowski, PhD (Compecs, Inc.) for his assistance in improving the use of English in this manuscript.

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