Romeih M, Mahrous MR, El Kassas M. Incidental radiological findings suggestive of COVID-19 in asymptomatic patients. World J Radiol 2022; 14(1): 1-12 [PMID: 35126873 DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v14.i1.1]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Mohamed El Kassas, MD, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt. m_elkassas@hq.helwan.edu.eg
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Jan 28, 2022; 14(1): 1-12 Published online Jan 28, 2022. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v14.i1.1
Incidental radiological findings suggestive of COVID-19 in asymptomatic patients
Marwa Romeih, Mary R Mahrous, Mohamed El Kassas
Marwa Romeih, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo 11795, Egypt
Mary R Mahrous, Department of Radiodiagnosis, National Heart institute, Cairo 11795, Egypt
Mohamed El Kassas, Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo 11795, Egypt
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the work, literature review, drafting and critical revision, editing, and final approval of the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declares no relevant conflict-of-interest to this work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed El Kassas, MD, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt. m_elkassas@hq.helwan.edu.eg
Received: February 1, 2021 Peer-review started: February 1, 2021 First decision: September 2, 2021 Revised: September 9, 2021 Accepted: December 23, 2021 Article in press: December 23, 2021 Published online: January 28, 2022
Abstract
Despite routine screening of patients for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms and signs at hospital entrances, patients may slip between the cracks and be incidentally discovered to have lung findings that could indicate COVID-19 infection on imaging obtained for other reasons. Multiple case reports and case series have been published to identify the pattern of this highly infectious disease. This article addresses the radiographic findings in different imaging modalities that may be incidentally seen in asymptomatic patients who carry COVID-19. In general, findings of COVID-19 infection may appear in computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography-CT, ultrasound, or plain X-rays that show lung or only apical or basal cuts. The identification of these characteristics by radiologists and clinicians is crucial because this would help in the early recognition of cases so that a rapid treatment protocol can be established, the immediate isolation to reduce community transmission, and the organization of close monitoring. Thus, it is important to both the patient and the physician that these findings are highlighted and reported.
Core Tip: Nowadays, the world is confronting a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that has a major global influence on health, social, and economic issues. COVID-19 shows many different presentations with a wide range of severity. Because it is considered the most significant major health epidemic since that of the Spanish flu 100 years ago, the identification of all patterns of disease is extremely critical to protect the community and healthcare workers from such a highly contagious disease. Radiologists must be alert to recognize the different radiographic findings that suggest COVID-19, even in asymptomatic cases, in different imaging modalities.
