Role of HRCT Pulmonary Artery Diameter Measurement in Assessment of Severity and Prognosis of COVID-19 Patients

Severity and Prognosis of COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Background: In times of pandemic where health care workers cannot depend on auscultation and percussion methods to assess the clinical status of patients, radiological methods and lab parameters are being the mainstream deciding parameters for treatment. Corads score and CT severity score are popular methods of determining the status and treatment of a corona virus patient. Our study aims on correlating pulmonary artery diameter with severity of the corona virus patient. Subjects and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted at VIMS, Bellary during from August 1^st 2020 to December 26^th 2020. The study included all patients of all age groups who tested RT- PCR positive and CT done within 72 hours of admission. Clinical data regarding the patients like presenting complaints, co-morbidities, duration of hospital stay, mode of treatment and outcome was collected. CT severity scoring was done based on involvement of bronchopulmonary segments. Later the outcome of patients, CT severity score and Pulmonary artery diameter were correlated and analyzed. Result: In our study, out of 41, 12 (29 %) cases showed MPAD above 31.09 mm (i.e moderate severe MPAD). Among the 12 cases with enlarged MPAD, 9 cases had death as outcome, 56 %. 3/13 (23%) are cases with death as outcome among mildly enlarged MPAD. Conclusion: MPAD can be used as an independent parameter to risk stratify COVID-19 patients, predict severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. Thus it should be measured on a regular basis in COVID-19 patients and can be used to guide the management accordingly for better prognosis of COVID-19 patients.