| Abstract [eng] |
Objective: Describe the main signs of COVID-19 pneumonia in chest X-ray, computed tomography, and ultrasound images with references to the pathophysiology of the disease; also, describe the main features of chronic COVID-19 pneumonia in chest imaging and its possible causes. Materials and methods: After receiving patients’ consent and permission to use depersonalized data, 2 clinical cases from Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos were included. The literature search was conducted through the Pubmed database using specific keywords. 58 publications from 2020 to 2023 were included in the literature review, mostly from international medical journals, the rest were international guidelines and epidemiological data from the World Health Organization. Clinical case series presentation: Two patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia were treated at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Clinics. Their condition was being monitored with chest X-rays during the acute course of the disease and with computed tomography during the chronic stage of the disease. For both patients, during the acute stage of the disease, typical signs of COVID-19 pneumonia were seen in the chest X-ray images – bilateral and peripheral opacities with a predominance in the lower fields. Findings of the computed tomography images during the chronic stage are similar to the ones found in the scientific literature – changes suggesting fibrosis in the lungs, that get better during the course of the year but do not disappear completely. Conclusions: Acute COVID-19 pneumonia signs in imaging are similar to those found in other types of viral pneumonia. The frequency and scale of chronic radiological signs of COVID-19 pneumonia depend on the severity of the acute COVID-19 infection, are usually long-term, and most commonly described as fibrotic-like. |
