Clinical and radiological characteristics of pediatric patients with COVID-19: focus on imaging findings

• Published in: Japanese journal of radiology Vol. 38; no. 10; pp. 987 - 992
• Main Authors: Mohammadi, Afshin, Mohebbi, Iraj, khademvatani, Kamal, Pirnejad, Habibollah, Mirza-Aghazadeh, Javad, Gharebaghi, Naser, Abbasian Ardakani, Ali, Mirza-Aghazadeh-Attari, Mohammad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.10.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Child; Child, Preschool; Computed tomography; Coronavirus Infections - diagnostic imaging; Coronavirus Infections - physiopathology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Female; Glass; Humans; Imaging; Information processing; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Lungs; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nuclear Medicine; Original; Original Article; Pandemics; Patients; Pediatrics; Pediatrics - methods; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnostic imaging; Pneumonia, Viral - physiopathology; Radiology; Radiotherapy; SARS-CoV-2; Sensitivity; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; COVID-19; Tomography; Pediatrics; SARS-CoV-2; Coronavirus infections; X-ray computed
• ISSN: 1867-1071; 1867-108X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11604-020-01003-6

Purpose CT imaging has been a detrimental tool in the diagnosis of COVID-19, but it has not been studied thoroughly in pediatric patients and its role in diagnosing COVID-19. Methods 27 pediatric patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were included. CT examination and molecular assay tests were performed from all participants. A standard checklist was utilized to extract information, and two radiologists separately reviewed the CT images. Results The mean age of patients was 4.7 ± 4.16 (mean ± SD) years. Seventeen patients were female, and ten were male. The most common imaging finding was ground-glass opacities followed by consolidations. Seven patients had a single area of involvement, five patients had multiple areas of involvement, and four patients had diffuse involvement. The sensitivity of CT imaging in diagnosing infections was 66.67%. Also, some uncommon imaging findings were seen, such as a tree-in-bud and lung collapse. Conclusion CT imaging shows less involvement in pediatric compared to adult patients, due to pediatric patients having a milder form of the disease. CT imaging also has a lower sensitivity in detecting abnormal lungs compared to adult patients. The most common imaging findings are ground-glass opacities and consolidations, but other non-common imaging findings also exist.