1. Qualitative and quantitative DECT pulmonary angiography in COVID-19 pneumonia and pulmonary embolism
- Author
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Jens Erik Nielsen-Kudsk, Subba R. Digumarthy, Mads Dam Lyhne, Luca Saba, Chiara Arru, Jacob Valentin Hansen, Mannudeep K. Kalra, Ramandeep Singh, Rachel P. Rosovsky, and Christopher Kabrhel
- Subjects
Male ,Pulmonary Circulation ,Lung/blood supply ,Computed Tomography Angiography ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Contrast Media ,Severity of Illness Index ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,0302 clinical medicine ,Pulmonary angiography ,Medicine ,Intubation ,Hospital Mortality ,Lung ,Aged, 80 and over ,Computed Tomography Angiography/methods ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,Pulmonary embolism ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,COVID-19/complications ,Female ,Perfusion ,Iodine ,Adult ,Pulmonary Artery ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,Severity of illness ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Pulmonary Artery/diagnostic imaging ,Aged ,Retrospective Studies ,Receiver operating characteristic ,business.industry ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Pulmonary Embolism/diagnostic imaging ,COVID-19 ,Length of Stay ,medicine.disease ,Respiration, Artificial ,Pneumonia ,business ,Nuclear medicine ,Pulmonary Embolism - Abstract
Aim To assess differences in qualitative and quantitative parameters of pulmonary perfusion from dual-energy computed tomography (CT) pulmonary angiography (DECT-PA) in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia with and without pulmonary embolism (PE). Materials and methods This retrospective institutional review board-approved study included 74 patients (mean age 61 ± 18 years, male:female 34:40) with COVID-19 pneumonia in two countries (one with 68 patients, and the other with six patients) who underwent DECT-PA on either dual-source (DS) or single-source (SS) multidetector CT machines. Images from DS-DECT-PA were processed to obtain virtual mono-energetic 40 keV (Mono40), material decomposition iodine (MDI) images and quantitative perfusion statistics (QPS). Two thoracic radiologists determined CT severity scores based on type and extent of pulmonary opacities, assessed presence of PE, and pulmonary parenchymal perfusion on MDI images. The QPS were calculated from the CT Lung Isolation prototype (Siemens). The correlated clinical outcomes included duration of hospital stay, intubation, SpO2 and death. The significance of association was determined by receiver operating characteristics and analysis of variance. Results One-fifth (20.2%, 15/74 patients) had pulmonary arterial filling defects; most filling defects were occlusive (28/44) located in the segmental and sub-segmental arteries. The parenchymal opacities were more extensive and denser (CT severity score 24 ± 4) in patients with arterial filling defects than without filling defects (20 ± 8; p=0.028). Ground-glass opacities demonstrated increased iodine distribution; mixed and consolidative opacities had reduced iodine on DS-DECT-PA but increased or heterogeneous iodine content on SS-DECT-PA. QPS were significantly lower in patients with low SpO2 (p=0.003), intubation (p=0.006), and pulmonary arterial filling defects (p=0.007). Conclusion DECT-PA QPS correlated with clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients.
- Published
- 2021
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