Pseudocavitation sign at chest CT scan due to COVID-19 pneumonia: A report of 5 cases and literature review

Abstract

COVID-19 pneumonia computed tomography (CT) imaging features have been described in detail in many studies. The pseudocavitation sign has not been described in the previous COVID-19 studies. We present chest CT scans of five RT-PCR positive patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who has bare areas among pulmonary infiltrates. All five also had previous scans with similarly sized low attenuated areas in the same location prior to the addition of pulmonary infiltrates. The pre-existing cystic changes had become remarkable due to the contrast around them after the pulmonary infiltrates added. Therefore, they should be termed as “pseodocavity" according to Fleischner Society glossary. Small air-containing spaces between pulmonary infiltrates have been termed in previous COVID-19 studies as a new sign called "round cystic changes/air bubble sign/vacuolar sign". We would like to draw attention that the vacuolar sign and the synonyms may be the pseudocavity sign that is due to pre-existing changes rather than a new defined sign.