Methods A total of 28 COVID-19 patients and 67 non-COVID-19 patients who underwent RT-PCR and chest CT simultaneously at Lianyungang were collected. The distribution, range, morphology, and density of lesions, mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes, and abnormalities in the thoracic cavity and pleura were observed and analyzed. According to the CT manifestations, chest HRCT was used to score COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients and divide them into grades 0 to 5, and the diagnostic value of each grade for COVID-19 was assessed.
Results Among the 28 cases of COVID-19, 20 presented subpleural or multicentric distribution of bilateral lung lesions as shown by chest HRCT, 11 had single or multiple patchy or segmental ground glass opacities (GGOs), 14 had GGOs accompanied by interlobular septal thickening, 8 had GGOs with consolidation, 5 had consolidation, 18 had bronchial wall thickening or dilatation, 5 had diffuse central ground glass nodules, 5 had mesh-or honeycomb-like fiber cords, and 1 had pleural thickening. Compared with non-COVID-19 patients, the incidence of bilateral subpleural or multicentre lesions (71% vs 12%, P<0.001) and GGOs with septal thickening (50% vs 13%, P<0.001) was significantly higher in COVID-19 patients, while other HRCT findings did not differ significantly between non-COVID-19 and COVID-19 patients. The sensitivities, specificities, accuracies, positive predictive values, negative predictive values, and Kappa values of HRCT grades 0-5 for the diagnosis of COVID-19 were 64.3%, 97.0%, 87.4%, 90.0%, 86.7%, 0.669, respectively.92.9%, 82.1%, 85.3%, 68.4%, 96.5%, and 0.679; 100.0%, 59.7%, 71.6%, 50.9%, 100.0%, and 0.466; 100.0%, 29.9%, 50.5%, 37.3%, 100.0%, and 0.201; and 100.0%, 7.5%, 29.5%, 31.1%, 100.0%, and 0.045, respectively.