Background Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was officially announced as a global pandemic by the WHO on March 11 th 2020. Thorough understanding of CT imaging features of COVID-19 is essential for effective patient management; rationalizing the need for relevant research. The aim of this study was to analyze the chest CT findings of patients with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) proved COVID-19 admitted to four Egyptian hospitals. The recently published RSNA expert consensus statement on reporting COVID-19 chest CT findings was taken into consideration. Results Normal CT “negative for COVID-19” was reported in 26.1% of our RT-PCR proved COVID-19 cases. In descending order of prevalence, imaging findings of the positive CT studies (73.9%) included GGO (69%), consolidation (49.7%), crazy paving (15.4%), and peri-lobular fibrosis (40.6%). These showed a dominantly bilateral (68.2%), peripheral (72.4%), and patchy (64.7%) distribution. Remarkably, thymic hyperplasia was identified in 14.3% of studies. According to the RSNA consensus, CT findings were classified as typical in 68.9%, indeterminate in 3.6%, and atypical in 1.4% of the evaluated CT studies. Conclusion Although COVID-19 cannot be entirely excluded by chest CT, it can be distinguished in more than two-thirds of cases; making CT a widely available, non-invasive, and rapid diagnostic tool.
【저자키워드】 Egypt, COVID-19 ;Chest CT, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, diagnostic, fibrosis, RT-PCR, hospitals, global pandemic, Prevalence, Chest CT, Corona, outbreak, Research, Patient, GGO, distribution, consolidation, COVID-19 cases, Atypical, Consensus, Non-invasive, positive, feature, effective, normal, polymerase chain, Result, reported, evaluated, the WHO, excluded, CT finding, descending, patchy, thymic, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, multicenter, positive, CT finding,