HRCT Chest Evaluation of COVID-19 Patients: Experience in Combined Military Hospital Dhaka, Bangladesh

Background: hrct chest is an important tool in both diagnosis and management of covid-19 patient, as well as it is an important complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) tests. purpose: the purpose of this study is to assess different patterns of manifestation in hrct chest in covid-19 infection & to grade the severity by observing a sample of 128 after the symptoms began. method: from 11 april 2020 to 27 may 2020, 128 patients who were admitted in combined military hospital dhaka and underwent both hrct chest and rt-pcr for covid-19 were included. distribution and patterns of pulmonary lesions like ground glass opacity (ggo), consolidation, reverse halo sign, crazy paving, thickened vascular marking, lymphadenopathy and pleural effusion were evaluated. result: total 128 patients diagnosed (rt-pcr positive) with covid-19 were included. among them, 112(87.5%) patients had fever, and 58(45.31%) patients had fatigability. the most frequent ct abnormality was ground glass opacity in 123(96.09%) cases. amongst them 81 (63.28%) cases had ggo plus consolidation and ground glass opacity alone were 42(32.81%) cases. crazy-paving pattern was in 65(50.78%) cases. most patients had multiple lesions and involved all the 5 lobes in 96(75.00%) cases. the lesions were mostly peripheral (123,96.09%) and posterior (103,80.47%) and in 65(50.78%) cases the distribution were diffuse but predominantly peripheral. most commonly involved lobe is right lower lobe (120,93.75%) and left lower lobe(117,91.41%). conclusion: hrct chest can play an important role in the early diagnosis and prompt management of this global health emergency.