Purpose: This study is carried out to evaluate the diagnostic value of using common features of computed tomography (CT) imaging in COVID-19 disease, and to assess the relationship between blood oxygen saturation level and severity of CT findings. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, the chest CT of 173 test-confirmed COVID-19 patients have been evaluated to determine the patterns of involvement in multiple phases of illness. Then, the correlation between the severity of lung involvement and oxygen saturation levels has been assessed. Results: The chest CT results show that 87.6% of patients had GGO, which was the most common pattern in our findings. 83.8% of patients had bilateral lung involvement with the dominant multifocal and peripheral distribution. peribronchovascular involvement was also a common finding in our study (47.2 %). we found predominantly peribronchovascular view in 3 patients (1.7%), pleural effusion in 4 patients (2.3%), lymphadenopathy in 10 patients (5.8%), the tree in the bud in one patient (0.6%), and nodules in 4 patients (2.3%). We also found that GGO is the most common pattern during the early phase of the disease (97.4% of early phase cases). However, in the intermediate and late phases, consolidation and crazy paving patterns are more common. Moreover, our findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between oxygen saturation level and Total Severity Score, with the exclusion of the young adult patients (20-40 years). Conclusion: Relying on chest CT-scan findings apart from the oxygen saturation level is sufficient for the diagnosis and management of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
Background and Aim: Various studies have reported that 4-7 percent of adults with palpable thyroid nodules that 50-70 percent of it’s diagnosed with high-accuracy sonography. Although most thyroid nodules are non-cancerous and do not require treatment, a small percentage of them are associated with a potential risk of malignancy, which is an important early diagnosis by ultrasound or pathology. The present study aimed to compare the ultrasound with the pathologic results of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of thyroid nodules for the rapid diagnosis of thyroid malignancies in patients referred to Baqiyatallah Hospital. Methods: The study population consisted of 100 (80 female, 20 male) patients with thyroid nodules in the age range of 19-82 years referred to the radiology ward of Baqiyatallah Hospital who were studied by the cross-sectional method. All patients were first scoring by ultrasound, then fine needle aspiration with thyroid nodule ultrasound was performed, and the specimens were referred to the pathology department for further evaluation. Results: The pathologic results from fine-needle aspiration showed that only 8 of the 100 patients studied had malignant nodules that, by ultrasound scoring, 7 patients had 4 scores and 1 patient had 3 scores. However, the other 92 patients with benign nodules 57.60% of patients had score 1, 30.43% of patients had score 2 and 11.97% of patients had score 3. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it seems that ultrasound scoring is useful in the rapid diagnosis of thyroid nodules and prevent unnecessary thyroid nodule FNA.
