Objective: To retrospectively analyze the X-ray and CT features of patients with suggestive of SARS at the early stages.
Methods: The study comprised 112 patients (43 men, 69 women; aged from 16 to 82 year) with clinically proved SARS. Chest radiograph was performed in all the patients and CT of thorax in 22 patients during the first week of the onset.
Results: In the early stage, the most common findings were patchy ground-glass opacification (GGO) (79.5% on X-ray and 81. 8% on CT) and mixed lesions of GGO with irregular consolidation (21.4% on X-ray and 45.5% on CT) and/or granulomas (14.3% on X-ray and 27.3% on CT). A majority of lesions were located in the middle and lower field (70.9%) with peripheral distribution (69%). Other findings on CT included intralobular and interlobular septal thickening (carzy-paving pattern) (36.4%), bronchiectasis (18.2%) and small pleural effusion (22.7%).
Conclusion: Common radiologic findings of SARS are ground-glass opacification and mixed lesions of GGO with irregular consolidation and/or granulomas and lower location and peripheral distribution.