CT-based staging and prognosis of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia: correlation with blood glucose levels

C.-C. Xu, X.-Z. Ruan, X.-Q. Chen, Q.-L. Huang, Z.-Y. Zhao, L. Ru

Department of Radiology, Ningbo First Hospital, Ningbo, China. ruanxzhong@163.com

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• Infectious Diseases

OBJECTIVE: Based on the latest epidemic situation and field experience, this study aims to explore the correlation of computed tomography (CT) stages and blood glucose level in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The clinical data of first and multiple CT imaging re-examination and blood glucose levels from 62 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were collected for a retrospective analysis to determine the correlation between glucose level and CT-based staging.

RESULTS: Of the 62 COVID-19 patients, 48 cases of early stage and 14 cases of advanced stage were found in the CT data of the first diagnosis. These 62 cases were currently under follow-up (17-32 days): 18 cases in early stage-resorption stage, 25 cases in early stage-advanced stage-resorption stage, 12 cases in advanced stage-resorption stage, 5 cases in early stage -advanced stage-severe stage-resorption stage, and 2 cases in advanced stage-severe stage-resorption stage. Among them, the CT of 14 patients with advanced stage at the first diagnosis showed multiple stage lesions (advanced stage + early stage) at the same time. Patients presented with statistically significant changes in blood glucose at early stage-resorption stage, early stage-advanced stage-resorption stage, advanced stage-resorption stage, and early stage-advanced stage-severe stage-resorption stage (p<0.05). However, no statistically significant alterations were observed in the glucose level of patients with advanced stage-severe stage-resorption stage (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Alteration of blood glucose is positively correlated with CT-based staging of COVID-19. Blood glucose is of great value in clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 and in determining the stage and prognosis of this disease.

 

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