title: The chest X-ray image features of patients with severe SRAS: a preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the chest X-ray image features of patients with severe SARS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chest X-ray image features in 36 patients with severe SARS were retrospectively analyzed. The image characteristics were compared with those of 224 patients with common SARS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The important chest X-ray imaging features of 36 patients with severe SARS included small patch of infiltration (n = 27, 75.0%), large patch of infiltration (n = 22, 61.1%), large area of lung consolidation (n = 10, 27.3%), interstitial lung lesion (n = 26, 72.2%), ground-glass shadow (n = 28, 77.8%), irregular linear opacity (n = 15, 41.7%), diffuse lung lesion (n = 12, 33.3%), with single lung involved (n = 9, 25.0%), and both lungs involved (n = 32, 88.9%). The rates of large patch of infiltration, large area of lung consolidation, ground-glass shadow, diffuse lung lesion and involvement of both lungs in patients with severe SARS were significantly higher than those in patients with common type of SARS (all P < 0.01). Out of the 11 severe SARS patients who died, nine had large area of ground-glass shadow with air bronchogram in both lungs before death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Large patch of infiltration, large area of consolidation, ground-glass shadow, diffuse lung lesion and involvement of both lungs were the main X-ray image characteristics of patients with severe SARS. Large area of ground-glass shadow with air bronchogram in both lungs indicated a bad prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Jinxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Songfeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Bihua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lieguang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Deyang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Wuzhi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hongling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Chibiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Jincheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*