Purpose Lung severity score (LSS) and quantitative chest CT (QCCT) analysis could have a relevant impact to stratify patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia at the hospital admission. The study aims to assess LSS and QCCT performances in severity stratification of COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods From April 19, 2020, until May 3, 2020, patients with chest CT suggestive for interstitial pneumonia and tested positive for COVID-19 were retrospectively enrolled and stratified for hospital admission as Group 1, 2 and 3 (home isolation, low intensive care and intensive care, respectively). For LSS, lungs were divided in 20 regions and visually assessed by two radiologists who scored for each region from non-lung involvement as 0, < 50% assigned as 1 and > 50% as 2. QCCT was performed with a dedicated software that extracts pulmonary involvement expressed in liters and percentage. LSS and QCCT were analyzed with ROC curve analysis to predict the performance of both methods. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Final population enrolled included 136 patients (87 males, mean age 66 ± 16), 19 patients in Group 1, 86 in Group 2 and 31 in Group 3. Significant differences for LSS were observed in almost all comparisons, especially in Group 1 vs 3 (AUC 0.850, P < 0,0001) and Group 1 + 2 vs 3 (AUC 0.783, P < 0,0001). QCCT showed significant results in almost all comparisons, especially between Group 1 vs 3 (AUC 0.869, P < 0,0001). LSS and QCCT comparison between Group 1 and Group 2 did not show significant differences. Conclusions LSS and QCCT could represent promising tools to stratify COVID-19 patient severity at the admission.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Chest CT, Severity stratification, Lung quantification, Lung severity score, 【초록키워드】 Stratification, intensive care, Pneumonia, severity, Home isolation, lung, Region, Patient, age, Hospital admission, interstitial pneumonia, group, Quantitative, Admission, predict, COVID-19 patients, Analysis, COVID-19 patient, ROC Curve, AUC, significant differences, Comparisons, pulmonary involvement, material, positive, radiologist, males, Result, enrolled, tested, analyzed, affected, was performed, expressed, assigned, statistically significant, Significant, stratified, LSS, scored, 【제목키워드】 Stratification, severity, lung, Quantitative, COVID-19 patient,