Chest CT features comparison between COVID-19 and bacterial pneumonia

Objective: To improve the imaging diagnosis of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by comparing the chest CT imaging characteristics between COVID-19 and bacterial pneumonia Methods: CT data of 42 COVID-19 cases from January 16 to February 18, 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, and we also compared with the CT data of 36 cases of bacterial pneumonia collected from November 27, 2017 to February 6, 2020 Results: The incidence of bilateral lobes involvement in COVID-19 group was 73 8%, which was significantly higher than that in bacterial pneumonia group (vs 41 7%, P 0 01) The incidences of ground glass shadow (95 2%), mesh shadow (31 0%), and pavement sign (26 2%) were significantly higher than those of bacterial pneumonia (77 8%, 8 3% and 0, respectively, all P 0 05) The incidences of consolidation (35 7%), and central lobular nodule or tree-bud signs (9 5%) were lower than those of bacterial pneumonia (66 7% and 47 2%, respectively, both P 0 05) Conclusion: In COVID-19 patients, more CT signs such as ground glass shadow, mesh shadow and paved appearance were found than in bacterial pneumonia ones, whereas the consolidation shadow, central lobular nodules and tree-bud signs were less common © 2020, Editorial Board of Medical Journal of Wuhan University All right reserved