AUTHOR=Zhao Wei , He Lei , Tang Haoneng , Xie Xingzhi , Tang Lingli , Liu Jun TITLE=The Relationship Between Chest Imaging Findings and the Viral Load of COVID-19 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=7 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.558539 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2020.558539 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical characteristics, radiographic features, and the viral load of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods and Materials: We retrospectively collected 56 COVID-19 cases from two institutions in Hunan province, China. The basal clinical characteristics, detail imaging features and follow-up CT changes were evaluated and the relationship with the viral load was analyzed.

Results: GGO (48, 85.7%) and vascular enlargement (44, 78.6%) were the most frequent signs in COVID-19 patients. Of the lesions, 64.3% of the margins were uneasily differentiated. However, no significant correlations were found in terms of leucocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, platelets, and C-reactive protein (all P > 0.05). In contrast, the uneasily differentiated margin was negatively correlated with the Ct value (r = −0.283, P = 0.042), that is, an uneasily differentiated margin indicated a lower Ct value (P = 0.043). Patients with a lower Ct value were likely to present a progress follow-up change (P = 0.022). The Ct value at baseline could predict a progress follow-up change with an AUC of 0.685 (Cut-off value = 29.48). All four patients with normal CT findings presented new lesion(s) on follow-up CT scans.

Conclusion: The viral load of COVID-19 is negatively correlated with an uneasily differentiated lesion margin on initial CT scan images and the Ct value should noted when making a diagnosis. In addition, following-up CT scans are necessary for patients who presented a normal CT at the initial diagnosis, especially for those with a low Ct value.