Predicting lung abnormality and severity in chest imaging after COVID-19: Is there a clue based on the clinical spectrum during illness?

Abstract

Background: Complaints after COVID-19 have been widely reported, especially those related to the respiratory tract. This situation may be related to the presence of lung lesions even though the patient has been cured as evidenced by negative PCR results. Chest CT scan is a good imaging modality that can be used to follow up post-COVID-19 patients. This study aims to determine the characteristics of a negative post-conversion chest CT scan and the correlation of the clinical spectrum of illness and lesions in a chest CT scan.Method: This study is an analytic observational type with a retrospective approach. Researchers will examine the medical records of confirmed COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized at Dr. Soetomo and had a negative post-conversion chest CT scan at Dr. Soetomo Hospital. The severity system uses a modified severity level, then a statistical correlation analysis test is carried out with the Spearman Test.Result: Total sample was 79 patients, with 46 male subjects (58,2 %) and 33 female subjects (41,8 %). From the clinical spectrum of illness, as many as 0% of patients were asymptomatic, 30.4% with mild symptoms, 25.3% with moderate symptoms, 17.7% with severe symptoms/severe pneumonia, and 26.6% with critical symptoms. Of the 79 samples, 93.7% had pulmonary abnormalities. The most abnormalities that were found were fibrosis at 88.6% and ground glass opacity (GGO) at 78.5%. Conclusion:Even though the patient has been declared cured of COVID-19 with a negative RT-PCR result, there are still abnormalities in the patient's lungs. A significant correlation between clinical spectrum with pulmonary severity was found