Comparison of Computed Tomography Scoring Systems in Patients with COVID-19 and Hematological Malignancies

Abstract

Background: Numerous computed tomography (CT) scales have been proposed to assess lung involvement in COVID-19 pneumonia as well as correlate radiological findings with patient outcomes. Objective: Comparison of different CT scoring systems in terms of time consumption and diagnostic performance in patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19 infection. Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis included hematological patients with COVID-19 and CT performed within 10 days of diagnosis of infection. CT scans were analyzed in three different semi-quantitative scoring systems, Chest CT Severity Score (CT-SS), Chest CT Score(CT-S), amd Total Severity Score (TSS), as well as qualitative modified Total Severity Score (m-TSS). Time consumption and diagnostic performance were analyzed. Results: Fifty hematological patients were included. Based on the ICC values, excellent inter-observer reliability was found among the three semi-quantitative methods with ICC > 0.9 (p p p < 0.001). Conclusions: Chest CT score and chest CT severity score have very high sensitivity and specificity in terms of diagnostic accuracy. The highest AUC values and the shortest median time of analysis in chest CT severity score indicate this method as preferred for semi-quantitative assessment of chest CT in hematological patients with COVID-19.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• computed tomography
• hematological malignancies
• pneumonia
• imaging