The Valuable Role of Imaging Modalities in the Diagnosis of the Uncommon Presentations of COVID-19: An Educative Case Series.

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in late 2019 rapidly turned into a global pandemic. Although the symptoms of COVID-19 are mainly respiratory ones, the infection is associated with a wide range of clinical signs and symptoms. The main imaging modality in COVID-19 is lung computed tomography (CT) scanning, but the diagnosis of the vast spectrum of complications needs the application of various imaging modalities. Owing to the novelty of the disease and its presentations, its complications-particularly uncommon ones-can be easily missed. In this study, we describe some uncommon presentations of COVID-19 diagnosed by various imaging modalities. The first case presented herein was a man with respiratory distress, who transpired to suffer from pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in addition to the usual pneumonia of COVID-19. The second patient was a hospitalized COVID-19 case, whose clinical condition suddenly deteriorated with the development of abdominal symptoms diagnosed as mesenteric ischemia by abdominal CT angiography. The third patient was a case of cardiac involvement in the COVID-19 course, detected as myocarditis by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The fourth and fifth cases were COVID-19-associated encephalitis whose diagnoses were established by brain MRI. COVID-19 is a multisystem disorder with a wide range of complications such as pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, mesenteric ischemia, myocarditis, and encephalitis. Prompt diagnosis with appropriate imaging modalities can lead to adequate treatment and better survival.