tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Cureus
. 2022 Jan 19;14(1):e21416.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.21416. eCollection 2022 Jan.
Radiological Lung Sequelae of Severe COVID-19: A Retrospective Observational Study From a Dedicated COVID Centre of Eastern India
Deependra Rai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Subhash Kumar[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sanjay Pandey[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Harsh Vardhan[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: The pulmonary sequelae of severe COVID-19 infection are yet to be fully defined. The authors undertook this study to find out the proportion of severe COVID-19 patients having fibrosis-like lung sequelae during a medium-term follow-up period.
Materials and methods: This was a retrospective observational study from a dedicated COVID centre of Eastern India. Severe COVID-19 patients who had undergone chest computerized tomography (CT) during the acute phase of illness and at least one follow-up CT with a gap of minimum two months between the two scans were included in the study.
Result: A total of 39 patients who had recovered from severe COVID-19 pneumonia and presented to the pulmonary medicine OPD in the months of July and August 2021 were included. Patients with pre-existing lung disease (n-4), mild to moderate (n-11), and due to unavailability of CT scan (n-2) were excluded. A total of 22 patients (thirteen males, nine females) were thus included for analysis. Follow-up scans were performed with a mean of 2.5 months after the onset of the disease. Out of 22 patients, only one patient's follow-up scan was normal. Predominant fibrotic-like features were present in six (27.2%) patients, though some evidence of fibrosis-like changes were seen in 20 out of 22 (90.9%) patients. The remaining 15 (68.2%) patients with abnormal scans had predominant non-fibrotic changes like ground-glass opacities (GGOs), consolidation, cavity, or nodule. The most common presenting symptoms at the follow-up examination were dyspnoea (81.8%), cough (54.1%) followed by fatigue in 40.9% of patients.
Conclusion: This study concluded that most of the severe COVID-19 patients have some residual radiological findings during medium-term follow-up. Fibrotic-like lesions are present in almost all patients but most of them get resolved with time. True fibrotic features like honeycombing are rarely seen as residual lung sequelae.
Keywords: covid-19 india; ct scan chest; post-covid sequelae; pulmonary fibrosis'; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
. 2022 Jan 19;14(1):e21416.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.21416. eCollection 2022 Jan.
Radiological Lung Sequelae of Severe COVID-19: A Retrospective Observational Study From a Dedicated COVID Centre of Eastern India
Deependra Rai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Subhash Kumar[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sanjay Pandey[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Harsh Vardhan[SUP] 4 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35198321
- PMCID: PMC8855736
- DOI: 10.7759/cureus.21416
Abstract
Background: The pulmonary sequelae of severe COVID-19 infection are yet to be fully defined. The authors undertook this study to find out the proportion of severe COVID-19 patients having fibrosis-like lung sequelae during a medium-term follow-up period.
Materials and methods: This was a retrospective observational study from a dedicated COVID centre of Eastern India. Severe COVID-19 patients who had undergone chest computerized tomography (CT) during the acute phase of illness and at least one follow-up CT with a gap of minimum two months between the two scans were included in the study.
Result: A total of 39 patients who had recovered from severe COVID-19 pneumonia and presented to the pulmonary medicine OPD in the months of July and August 2021 were included. Patients with pre-existing lung disease (n-4), mild to moderate (n-11), and due to unavailability of CT scan (n-2) were excluded. A total of 22 patients (thirteen males, nine females) were thus included for analysis. Follow-up scans were performed with a mean of 2.5 months after the onset of the disease. Out of 22 patients, only one patient's follow-up scan was normal. Predominant fibrotic-like features were present in six (27.2%) patients, though some evidence of fibrosis-like changes were seen in 20 out of 22 (90.9%) patients. The remaining 15 (68.2%) patients with abnormal scans had predominant non-fibrotic changes like ground-glass opacities (GGOs), consolidation, cavity, or nodule. The most common presenting symptoms at the follow-up examination were dyspnoea (81.8%), cough (54.1%) followed by fatigue in 40.9% of patients.
Conclusion: This study concluded that most of the severe COVID-19 patients have some residual radiological findings during medium-term follow-up. Fibrotic-like lesions are present in almost all patients but most of them get resolved with time. True fibrotic features like honeycombing are rarely seen as residual lung sequelae.
Keywords: covid-19 india; ct scan chest; post-covid sequelae; pulmonary fibrosis'; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.