A Retrospective Study of Radiological Patterns in COVID-19 Pneumonia Using Chest CT and Their Correlation with Clinical Severity and Outcomes

Abstract

The retrospective study analyzes the radiological patterns in COVID-19 pneumonia patients with confirmed clinical associations with their clinical severity and outcomes in terms of chest computed tomography (CT) imaging. Based on a cohort of 245 RT-PCR-positive patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital March-December 2021, this study finds that ground-glass opacities (GGOs) are the most common radiological manifestation, often accompanied by mixed patterns and consolidations. The semi-quantitative lobe based scoring system was used to determine CT severity scores and the patients classified as per World Health Organization (WHO) severity. Through their statistical analysis, it was found that CT severity scores increased significantly and progressively in mild, moderate, severe, and critical groups. ICU admission, mechanical ventilation requirements, and mortality strongly correlated with higher scores (p < 0.005). Severe cases had more prevalent lesion distributions in periphery and bilateral distribution with the lower lobes more affected. These results indicate that chest CT is not merely useful in the diagnosis of the COVID-19 pneumonia but also as an indicator of clinical and deterioration. This study, through a systematic association of radiological severity with patient outcomes, supports historical evidence on the importance of CT imaging in early triage, risk stratification, and COVID-19 patient management, especially in high-burden or low or middle-income countries.

Keywords: COVID-19, Chest CT, Radiological Patterns, Clinical Severity, Ground-glass Opacities, CT Severity Score, Pneumonia, ICU Admission, Mechanical Ventilation, Mortality Prediction.