A Comparative Study of Target Reconstruction of Ultra-High-Resolution CT for Patients with Corona-Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

  1. Shao-mao Lv
  2. Yu Lin
  3. Jiang-he Kang
  4. Shao-yin Duan
  5. Wei-guo Zhang
  6. Jin-an Wang

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Abstract

Background

The corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a serious public health risk. Compared with conventional high-resolution CT (C-HRCT, matrix 512), ultra-high resolution CT (U-HRCT, matrix 1024) can increase the effective pixel per unit volume by about 4 times. Our study is to evaluate the value of target reconstruction of U-HRCT in the accurate diagnosis of COVID-19.

Methods

A total of 13 COVID-19 cases, 44 cases of other pneumonias, and 6 cases of ground-glass nodules were retrospectively analyzed. The data were categorized into groups A (C-HRCT) and B (U-HRCT), following which iDose 4 -3 and iDose 4 -5 were used for target reconstruction, respectively. CT value, noise, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in different reconstructed images were measured. Two senior imaging doctors scored the image quality and the structure of the lesions on a 5-point scale. Chi-square test, variance analysis, and binarylogistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis.

Results

U- HRCT image can reduce noise and improve SNR with an increase of the iterative reconstruction level. The SNR of U-HRCT image was lower than that of the C-HRCT image of the same iDose 4 level, and the noise of U-HRCT was higher than that of C-HRCT image; the difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed thatperipleural distribution, thickening of blood vessels and interlobular septum, and crazy-paving pattern were independent indictors of the COVID-19 on U-HRCT. U-HRCT was superior to C-HRCT in showing the blood vessels, bronchial wall, and interlobular septum in the ground-glass opacities; the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Peripleural distribution, thickening of blood vessels and interlobular septum, and crazy-paving pattern on U-HRCT are favorable signs for COVID-19. U-HRCT is superior to C-HRCT in displaying the blood vessels, bronchial walls, and interlobular septum for evaluating COVID-19.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.04.20119206: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableThe patients included 35 males and 28 females aged between 6–69 years, with an average age of (35 ± 10.6) years.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study had a few limitations. The number of patient samples included was small; consequently, statistical analysis may be biased. Retrospective target reconstruction was used in all cases, and no comparison with large-matrix U-HRCT target scan images was performed. Body mass index and radiation dose were not considered while evaluating image quality.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.04.20119206v1 on medRxiv