Radiation pneumonitis and Covid-19 pneumonia: are there overlapping features? Letter to editor

Abstract

Respiratory involvement of Covid-19 infection, presenting as a mild flu-like illness to potentially lethal acute respiratory distress syndrome is the main clinical manifestation in adults. As well assessed by many reports, CT scan of the chest show a pictorial fashion of images due to the severity and stage of the disease, starting from focal nodular or mass-like opacities with air bronchogram to areas of ground glass consolidation or whited out lung. However, these findings have been defined not specific to this disease. At the Covid-19 pandemic time, they could yield confounding reporting in case of cancer patients treated with thoracic radiotherapy (RT) developing features of atypical radiation pneumonitis. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis and radiation induced Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonitis (RT- BOOP) should be accounted in the differential diagnosis.