Chest CT features of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

Abstract

A new type of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is rapidly spreading worldwide and causes pneumonia, respiratory distress, thromboembolic events, and death. Chest computed tomography (CT) plays an essential role in the diagnosis of viral pneumonia, monitoring disease progression, determination of disease severity, and evaluating therapeutic efficacy. Chest CT can show important clues of 2019-nCoV disease (also known as COVID-19) in patients with an appropriate clinic. Prompt diagnosis of COVID-19 is essential to prevent disease transmission and provides close clinical observation of patients with clinically severe disease. Therefore, radiologists and clinicians should be familiar with the CT imaging findings of COVID-19 pneumonia. Herein, we aimed to review the imaging findings of COVID-19 pneumonia and examine the critical points to be considered for imaging in cases with COVID-19 suspicion.