Search

Many coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) survivors show symptoms months after acute illness. The aim of this work is to describe the clinical evolution of Covid-19, one year after discharge. We performed a prospective cohort study on 238 patients previously hospitalized for Covid-19 pneumonia in 2020 who already underwent clinical follow-up 4 months post-Covid-19. 200 consented to participate to a 12-months clinical assessment, including: pulmonary function tests with diffusing lung capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO); post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms evaluation by the Impact of Event Scale (IES); motor function evaluation (by Short Physical Performance Battery and 2 min walking test); chest Computed Tomography (CT). After 366 [363–369] days, 79 patients (39.5%) reported at least one symptom. A DLCO

Purpose The purpose of the study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of ADC ratio and to evaluate its efficacy in reducing the number of false positives in prostatic mpMRI. Materials and methods All patients who underwent an mpMRI and a targeted fusion biopsy in our institution from 2016 to 2021 were retrospectively selected. Two experienced readers (R1 and R2) independently evaluated the images, blindly to biopsy results. The radiologists assessed the ADC ratios by tracing a circular 10 mm2 ROI on the biopsied lesion and on the apparently benign contralateral parenchyma. Prostate cancers were divided into non-clinically significant (nsPC, Gleason score = 6) and clinically significant (sPC, Gleason score ≥ 7). ROC analyses were performed. Results 167 patients and188 lesions were included. Concordance was 0.62 according to Cohen’s K. ADC ratio showed an AUC for PCAs of 0.78 in R1 and 0.8 in R2. The AUC for sPC was 0.85 in R1 and 0.84 in R2. The 100% sensitivity cut-off for sPCs was 0.65 (specificity 25.6%) in R1 and 0.66 (specificity 27.4%) in R2. Forty-three benign or not clinically significant lesions were above the 0.65 threshold in R1; 46 were above the 0.66 cut-off in R2. This would have allowed to avoid an equal number of unnecessary biopsies at the cost of 2 nsPCs in R1 and one nsPC in R2. Conclusion In our sample, the ADC ratio was a useful and accurate tool that could potentially reduce the number of false positives in mpMRI. Graphical abstract

Background In December 2019, a cluster of unknown etiology pneumonia cases occurred in Wuhan, China leading to identification of the responsible pathogen as SARS-coV-2. Since then, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to the entire world. Computed Tomography (CT) is frequently used to assess severity and complications of COVID-19 pneumonia. The purpose of this study is to compare the CT patterns and clinical characteristics in intensive care unit (ICU) and non- ICU patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Design and methods This retrospective study included 218 consecutive patients (136 males; 82 females; mean age 63±15 years) with laboratory-confirmed SARS-coV-2. Patients were categorized in two different groups: (a) ICU patients and (b) non-ICU inpatients. We assessed the type and extent of pulmonary opacities on chest CT exams and recorded the information on comorbidities and laboratory values for all patients. Results Of the 218 patients, 23 (20 males: 3 females; mean age 60 years) required ICU admission, 195 (118 males: 77 females, mean age 64 years) were admitted to a clinical ward. Compared with non-ICU patients, ICU patients were predominantly males (60% versus 83% p=0.03), had more comorbidities, a positive CRP (p=0.04) and higher LDH values (p=0.008). ICU patients’ chest CT demonstrated higher incidence of consolidation (p=0.03), mixed lesions (p=0.01), bilateral opacities (pConclusions CT imaging features of ICU patients affected by COVID-19 are significantly different compared with non-ICU patients. Identification of CT features could assist in a stratification of the disease severity and supportive treatment.

Background: In December 2019, a cluster of unknown etiology pneumonia cases occurred in Wuhan, China leading to identification of the responsible pathogen as SARS-coV-2. Since then, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to the entire world. Computed Tomography (CT) is frequently used to assess severity and complications of COVID-19 pneumonia. The purpose of this study is to compare the CT patterns and clinical characteristics in intensive care unit (ICU) and non- ICU patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Design and Methods: This retrospective study included 218 consecutive patients (136 males; 82 females; mean age 63±15 years) with laboratory-confirmed SARS-coV-2. Patients were categorized in two different groups: (a) ICU patients and (b) non-ICU inpatients. We assessed the type and extent of pulmonary opacities on chest CT exams and recorded the information on comorbidities and laboratory values for all patients. Results: Of the 218 patients, 23 (20 males: 3 females; mean age 60 years) required ICU admission, 195 (118 males: 77 females, mean age 64 years) were admitted to a clinical ward. Compared with non-ICU patients, ICU patients were predominantly males (60% versus 83% p=0.03), had more comorbidities, a positive CRP (p=0.04) and higher LDH values (p=0.008). ICU patients’ chest CT demonstrated higher incidence of consolidation (p=0.03), mixed lesions (p=0.01), bilateral opacities (p

Aim To compare the computed tomography (CT) features of Sars-CoV-2 pneumonia between the two sexes and among different age groups. Materials and methods Consecutive patients (n=331) who presented to the emergency department and underwent chest CT and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with a time interval, Highlights • No differences in CT imaging existed in COVID-19 affected males and females. • More females were affected by 2 or more comorbidities (17.1% vs. 7.5%, p=0.024). • All comorbidities but diabetes were more prevalent in the female sex. • Women had a higher probability to be discharged home (p=0.008). • Females had a lower probability to be admitted in ICU (p=0.008).

Highlights • In our experience chest CT had a significantly higher specificity and accuracy in detecting COVID-19 pneumonia than previously reported. • Chest CT and RT-PCR positive rates were 485/773 (62.7 %) and 462/773 (59.7 %), respectively. • CT sensitivity and specificity for COVID 19 with RT-PCR as reference were 90.7 % and 78.8 % respectively. • CT PPV, NPV and accuracy were 86.4 %, 85.1 % and 85.9 % respectively., Objectives The goal of this study was to assess chest computed tomography (CT) diagnostic accuracy in clinical practice using RT-PCR as standard of reference. Methods From March 4th to April 9th 2020, during the peak of the Italian COVID-19 epidemic, we enrolled a series of 773 patients that performed both non-contrast chest CT and RT-PCR with a time interval no longer than a week due to suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection. The diagnostic performance of CT was evaluated according to sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy, considering RT-PCR as the reference standard. An analysis on the patients with discrepant CT scan and RT-PCR result and on the patient with both negative tests was performed. Results RT-PCR testing showed an overall positive rate of 59.8 %. CT sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy for SARS-CoV-2 infection were 90.7 % [95 % IC, 87.7%–93.2%], 78.8 % [95 % IC, 73.8−83.2%], 86.4 % [95 % IC, 76.1 %–88.9 %], 85.1 % [95 % IC, 81.0 %–88.4] and 85.9 % [95 % IC 83.2−88.3%], respectively. Twenty-five/66 (37.6 %) patients with positive CT and negative RT-PCR results and 12/245 (4.9 %) patients with both negative tests were nevertheless judged as positive cases by the clinicians based on clinical and epidemiological criteria and consequently treated. Conclusions In our experience, in a context of high pre-test probability, CT scan shows good sensitivity and a consistently higher specificity for the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia than what reported by previous studies, especially when clinical and epidemiological features are taken into account.