A retrospective study of the initial 25 COVID-19 patients in Luoyang, China

PURPOSE: To summarize the chest CT imaging and clinical features of the initial COVID-19 patients and provide a clinical diagnostic method that is more effective and can be performed earlier. METHODS: This retrospective study investigated the clinical, laboratory and imaging information of 25 patients in the Luoyang area. There were 15 (60%) male and 10 (40%) female patients ranging from 24 to 88 years old (52 ± 19.30). Data were analyzed by Microsoft Excel and are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation or percentage. RESULTS: Thirteen (52%) patients had been in Wuhan or were in contact with people who had been in Wuhan, and ten (40%) patients were infected by their families or colleagues. The median time from initial symptoms to diagnosis was 7 days. Ninety-two percent of patients had respiratory symptoms, and 8% of them had digestive symptoms. Fever (92%), cough (60%) and fatigue (56%) were the most common symptoms. Most patients had a normal or reduced WBC (96%), reduced lymphocyte count (60%), increased CRP (48%) and increased ESR (44%). Ground glass opacity (GGO) was the typical radiological finding on chest CT. CONCLUSION: Characteristic chest CT imaging features could appear earlier than the viral nucleic acid assay results.