Correlations of renal parenchymal attenuations and CT severity scores on three consecutive CTs in COVID-19 patients

Year 2023, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 487 - 493, 27.03.2023

Ahmet Turan Kaya , Burcu Akman

https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.1227526

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to investigate the correlation between the temporal changes of computed tomography severity score (CT-SS) ​​and mean renal parenchymal attenuation (MRPA) values in consecutive chest computed topographies (CT).
Material and Method: This retrospective, single-center study included 65 (≥18 years) COVID-19 patients with positive RT-PCR tests. A radiologist calculated three consecutive chest CT-SSs and measured the MPRAs on CTs from the upper half of each kidney included in the cross-section. Paired samples test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used to evaluate the temporal changes of mean renal parenchymal attenuation (RPA) and median CT-SS values, in three consecutive CTs. Spearman's test was used to evaluate the correlation of each RPA and CT-SS value on three consecutive CTs.
Results: The study population included 65 patients with a mean age of 61.49±13.91 years. A total of 36/65 (55.4%) were male. We found a significant increase between the first and second CT-SS (p<0.001) values, and a significant decrease between the first and second RPA (p<0.001) values. There were statistically significant moderate negative linear correlations between MRPA values and consecutive CT-SSs in COVID-19 patients (correlation coefficient [r]1=-0.320, p=0.009; r2=-0.381, p=0.002; r3=-0.393, p=0.001).
Conclusion: The decrease in renal parenchymal attenuation in non-enhanced computed tomography is related to the severity of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients and may be an attention factor for acute kidney injury.

Keywords

COVID-19, Coronavirus, CT severity score, renal parenchymal attenuation

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