Bilateral acute pulmonary embolism and Covid-19 pneumonia: CT findings

Francesco Messina; Lorena Turano; Grazia Calabrese; Carmela Tebala; Nicola Arcadi

doi:10.1016/j.radcr.2020.12.065

Bilateral acute pulmonary embolism and Covid-19 pneumonia: CT findings

Radiol Case Rep. 2020 Dec 30;16(3):642-645. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2020.12.065. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Francesco Messina¹, Lorena Turano¹, Grazia Calabrese¹, Carmela Tebala¹, Nicola Arcadi¹

Affiliation

¹ Unit of Radiology - Riuniti Hospital, Azienda Ospedaliera Grande Ospedale Metropolitano (G.O.M.) "Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli", Via Giuseppe Melacrino n.21, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Abstract

Since the widespread of acute respiratory syndrome infection caused by coronavirus-19, unenhanced computed tomography (CT) was considered a useful imaging tool commonly used in early diagnosis and monitoring of patients with complicated Covid-19 pneumonia. If there is clinical or laboratory suspicion of pulmonary embolism complicating Covid-19 pneumonia, CT angiogram of the pulmonary arteries may be necessary. Here we describe the case of a 52 years old man, affected by a high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome patient, with Covid-19 pneumonia, complicated by a bilateral massive acute pulmonary embolism. An unenhanced CT and then a CT pulmonary angiography were made, and the patient was immediately hospitalized and treated.

Keywords: Computed tomography pulmonary angiography; Ground-glass opacities (GGO); HRCT; Pneumonia; Pulmonary embolism; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Case Reports