FINDINGS IN THORAX TOMOGRAPHY ON PATIENT WITH COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which had its first cases reported in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, being officially recognized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. The gold standard in the diagnosis of COVID-19 is RT-PCR, and it is currently recommended that computed tomography (CT) of the chest is not used for the purpose of diagnosing the disease, although this method is extremely useful in assessing its evolution, as well as in its complications. The tomographic findings most described in COVID-19 consist of ground-glass opacities, mosaic paving and consolidations, which, although unspecific, generally present predominantly bilateral, peripheral and basal thoracic distribution. A temporal pattern of tomographic changes was observed in COVID-19. Thus, in this work we illustrate and describe these patterns of the disease, dividing the evolution of the pathology into four stages: initial, progressive, peak and absorption. In the context of a pandemic, there is an increased need for trained professionals and the importance of recognizing the tomographic manifestations of COVID-19 and their temporality, to assist with isolation measures, and, above all, the clinical management of these patients.