Differences among COVID-19, Bronchopneumonia and Atypical Pneumonia in Chest High Resolution Computed Tomography Assessed by Artificial Intelligence Technology

The aim of this study was to compare the results of automatic assessment of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) by artificial intelligence (AI) in 150 patients from three subgroups: pneumonia in the course of COVID-19, bronchopneumonia and atypical pneumonia. The volume percentage of inflammation and the volume percentage of “ground glass” were significantly higher in the atypical (respectively, 11.04%, 8.61%) and the COVID-19 (12.41%, 10.41%) subgroups compared to the bronchopneumonia (5.12%, 3.42%) subgroup. The volume percentage of consolidation was significantly higher in the COVID-19 (2.95%) subgroup compared to the atypical (1.26%) subgroup. The percentage of “ground glass” in the volume of inflammation was significantly higher in the atypical (89.85%) subgroup compared to the COVID-19 (79.06%) subgroup, which in turn was significantly higher compared to the bronchopneumonia (68.26%) subgroup. HRCT chest images, analyzed automatically by artificial intelligence software, taking into account the structure including “ground glass” and consolidation, significantly differ in three subgroups: COVID-19 pneumonia, bronchopneumonia and atypical pneumonia. However, the partial overlap, particularly between COVID-19 pneumonia and atypical pneumonia, may limit the usefulness of automatic analysis in differentiating the etiology. In our future research, we plan to use artificial intelligence for objective assessment of the dynamics of pulmonary lesions during COVID-19 pneumonia.