No abstract

Purpose Due to the emergence of the new coronavirus 2019 and the lack of sufficient information about infected patients, this study was conducted to investigate the chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings of patients infected with the new coronavirus 2019. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed on COVID-19 patients referred to Medical Imaging Centers of Sari, Mazandaran, Iran, on March 2020 for computed tomography (CT) scan. Symptomatic patients were referred to the Medical Imaging Center for diagnosis confirmation through CT scan. In addition to age and sex, HRCT findings were collected from the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for further evaluations. Results Out of 552 patients with mean age of 51.2 ± 14.8 years, the male/female ratio was 1.38 to 1. The most common expressive findings in patients were ground-glass opacity (GGO) (87.3%), peripheral distribution (82.4%), and posterior distribution (81.5%). The most conflicting findings in patients were pleural effusion (7.6%), peribronchovascular distribution (7.6%), and lymphadenopathy (5.1%). The peripheral distribution (p = 0.034), round opacities (p = 0.02), single lobe (p = 0.003), and pleural effusion (p = 0.037) were significant in people under and over 50 years of age. Conclusion In summary, the present study indicated that in addition to GGO, peripheral distribution findings could be a vital diagnostic choice in COVID-19 patients.

Purpose: Due to the emergence of the new Coronavirus-2019 and the lack of sufficient information about infected patients, this study was conducted to investigate the Chest High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) findings of patients infected with the new Coronavirus 2019.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on COVID-19 patients referred to Medical Imaging Centers of Sari, Mazandaran, Iran, on March 2020 for Computed Tomography Scan (CT-Scan). Symptomatic patients were referred to the Medical Imaging Center for diagnosis confirmation through CT-scan. In addition to age and sex, HRCT findings were collected from the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for further evaluations.Results: Out of 552 patients with mean age of 14.8 ± 51.2 years, the male/female ratio was 1.38 to 1. The most common expressive findings in patients were ground-glass opacity (GGO) (87.3%), peripheral distribution (82.4%) and posterior distribution (81.5%). The most conflicting findings in patients were pleural effusion (7.6%), peribronchovascular distribution (7.6%), and lymphadenopathy (5.1%). The peripheral distribution (p = 0.034), round opacities (p = 0.02), single lobe (p = 0.003) and pleural effusion (p = 0.037) were significantly in people under and over 50 years of age.Conclusion: In summary, the present study indicated that in addition to GGO, peripheral distribution findings could be a vital diagnostic choice in COVID-19 patients.

Background: Low Back pain (LBP) is a common health problem that affects different aspects of a person's life. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc is a major cause of LBP. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine. In contrast, interleukin-10 (IL-10) prevents the occurrence of immune over-stimulation by inhibiting inflammation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of these cytokines in LBP patients and in the control group. Methods: In a case-control study 87 patients including 59 patients with low back pain and 28 healthy subjects were examined after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approval. After recording demographic data, 5 ml of peripheral blood samples were obtained from the subjects and enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) technique was performed to measure IL-10 and IL-17 in serum samples. SPSS software with significance level of P <0.05 was used to compare the results. Result: The case group consisted of 21 males and 38 females with mean age 49.6 yrs. and control group consisted of 14 males and 14 females with mean age of 36. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.5 in the patients and 25.4 in the control group (P>0.05). Serum levels of inflammatory cytokine IL-17 were significantly higher in patients than in controls (P=0.032). Conclusion: Differences in serum levels of IL-17 and IL-10 in the LBP group compared with healthy group may indicate the role of inflammatory and autoimmune processes in causing disk damage. These findings could potentially be used by future studies to develop new LBP therapeutic strategies.

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative disorder occurring in elderly people. Radiography and sonography are convenient techniques to detect diverse pathological features of knee OA. BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative disorder occurring in older people. Radiography and sonography are convenient techniques to detect diverse pathological features of knee OA. AIM: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of radiography and sonography in the detection of diverse features of knee OA. METHODS: In a prospective cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study, 50 consecutive patients with suspected knee OA (40 women and 10 men, mean age 41.2 ± 6.1 years), referred to the rheumatology clinic of the Shohada Hospital of Khorramabad. All obtained magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), radiographic and sonography images were evaluated by two radiologists and rheumatologist with sufficient expertise in degenerative knee disorders. MRI has been considered as a gold standard test in evaluating other tests. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), negative predictive values (NPV) and accuracy with 95% confidence intervals of radiography and sonography in the diagnosis of knee OA were calculated. RESULTS: Prevalence of the marginal osteophyte, geode and decreased joint thickness were significantly higher in patients with age > 40 years compared to ≤ 40 years (P ˂ 0.05). The incidence of diverse features of knee OA was not significantly different in terms of the patient’s gender, except for decreased joint space. The specificity of radiography was higher than its sensitivity. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that both radiography and sonography are useful imaging modalities, especially to diagnosis the positive cases of knee OA. The specificity of radiography is higher than to its sensitivity for all pathological features of knee OA. The sensitivity of sonography to detect some features of knee OA such as decreased joint thickness is considerably higher than radiography.

Introduction: Despite the availability of many imaging and clinical criteria for diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), its correct diagnosis is a challenge for clinicians and radiologists. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and clinical symptoms in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with suspected LSS in MRI. Methods: This study is a case-control study. Two groups of 100 symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals (aged 20 to 84 years) with suspected lumbar spinal canal stenosis who referred to the imaging unit for lumbosacral MRI were included. The clinical symptoms and radiological parameters in MRI for all patients were recorded and relationship between them were evaluated. Results: Among the quantitative imaging findings, only the anterior-posterior diameter of the canal at the level of the intervertebral disc, the central spinal canal cross-section area and lateral recesses cross-sectional area were valuable. Coefficient of stenosis was calculated for the case and control groups which had statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The difference between qualitative findings such as disc protrusion, extrusion, sequestration and Cauda Equine serpain or redundant was significant between the two groups. Conclusion: According to the results, among the quantitative criteria of MRI imaging findings, central spinal canal cross-section (less than 77.5 mm2 for central stenosis) and lateral recesses cross-section (less than 22.5 mm2 for lateral stenosis) had the highest sensitivity and specificity for LSS diagnosis in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with suspected LSS. Strongest observed correlation was between neurogenic claudication and LSS diagnostic radiological markers.

A rapid outbreak of novel coronavirus, coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19), has made it a global pandemic. This study focused on the possible association between lymphopenia and computed tomography (CT) scan features and COVID‐19 patient mortality. The clinical data of 596 COVID‐19 patients were collected from February 2020 to September 2020. The patients' serological survey and CT scan features were retrospectively explored. The median age of the patients was 56.7 ± 16.4 years old. Lung involvement was more than 50% in 214 COVID‐19 patients (35.9%). The average blood lymphocyte percentage was 20.35 ± 10.16 (normal range, 20%–50%). Although the levels of C‐reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were high in more than 80% of COVID‐19 patients; CRP, ESR, and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR) may not indicate the in‐hospital mortality of COVID‐19. Patients with severe lung involvement and lymphopenia were found to be significantly associated with increased odds of death (odds ratio, 9.24; 95% confidence interval, 4.32–19.78). These results indicated that lymphopenia < 20% along with pulmonary involvement >50% impose a multiplicative effect on the risk of mortality. The in‐hospital mortality rate of this group was significantly higher than other COVID‐19 hospitalized cases. Furthermore, they meaningfully experienced a prolonged stay in the hospital ( p = .00). Lymphocyte count less than 20% and chest CT scan findings with more than 50% involvement might be related to the patient's mortality. These could act as laboratory and clinical indicators of disease severity, mortality, and outcome.

Background: A rapid outbreak of novel coronavirus, COVID-19, made it a global pandemic. This study focused on the possible association between lymphopenia and Computed tomography (CT) scan features and COVID-19 patient mortality. Method: The clinical data of 596 COVID-19 patients were collected from February 2020 to September 2020. The patients’ serological survey and CT scan features were retrospectively explored. Results: The median age of the patients was 56.7±16.4 years old. Lung involvement was more than 50% in 214 COVID-19 patients (35.9%). The average blood lymphocyte percentage was 20.35 ±10.16. The levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) may not indicate the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Patients with severe lung involvement and lymphopenia were found to be significantly associated with increased odds of death (odds ratio [OR], 9.24; 95% confidence interval [95 CI%], 4.32- 19.78). These results indicated that lymphopenia <20% along with pulmonary involvement >50% impose a multiplicative effect on the risk of mortality. The in-hospital mortality rate of this group was significantly higher than other COVID-19 hospitalized cases. Furthermore, they meaningfully experienced a prolonged stay in the hospital (P= 0.00). Conclusion: The Lymphocyte count less than 20% and chest CT scan findings with more than 50% involvement might be related to the patient’s mortality. It could act as laboratory and clinical indicators of disease severity and mortality.