Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new virus recently isolated from humans. SARS-CoV-2 was discovered to be the pathogen responsible for a cluster of pneumonia associated with severe respiratory disease occurred in December 2019 in China. This novel pulmonary infection, formally called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has spread rapidly in China and beyond. On 8 March 2020, the number of Italians with SARS-CoV-2 infection was 7375 with a 48% hospitalization rate. At present, chest computed tomography imaging is considered the most effective method for detection of lung abnormalities in early-stage disease and for quantitative assessment of severity and progression of COVID-19 infection. Although chest x-ray (CXR) is considered not sensitive for the detection of pulmonary involvement in the early stage of disease, we believe that, in the current emergency setting, CXR can be a useful diagnostic tool for monitoring the rapid progression of lung abnormalities in infected patients, particularly in intensive care units. In this article we present our experimental CXR scoring system that we are applying in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia to quantify and monitor the severity and progression of this new infectious disease. We also present the results of our preliminary validation study on a sample of 100 hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection for whom the final outcome (recovery or death) was available.
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Background: From December 2019, the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Pneumonia broke out in Wuhan, China. In this study, we present the finding of serial computed tomography in a female patient with 2019-nCoV.
Case presentation: We report a 40-year-old female who presented with the symptoms of fever, chest tightness, and fatigue. She was further diagnosed with 2019-nCoV confirmed by rRT-PCR. In terms of her chest CT findings, patchy consolidation shadows, and ground-glass opacities (GGOs) rapidly progressed in both lungs, peripherally. After treatment, the previous lesions were almost absorbed, leaving the fibrous lesions.
Conclusions: If there is a history of fever or contact with the epidemic area, combined with the above CT findings, it is necessary to detect the nucleic acid of new coronavirus in time.
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