In a new study published March 7, 2023 in the journal Revue Radiology, French radiologists show how the omicron variant and vaccination are associated with a lower frequency of signs suggestive of COVID-19 on a scanner. They also describe a lower prevalence of disease compared to patients affected by the delta variant and not vaccinated.
Chest computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard for imaging of COVID-19, with a sensitivity of 86.9% and a specificity of 73.3% (3). RSNA, the Dutch Society of Radiology and the French Society of Radiology – Society of Thoracic Imaging (SFR-SIT) quickly proposed standardized reporting to facilitate communication of CT findings.
Effect of the Omicron variable and vaccination status on CT lung images
Radiological signs of the initial form, the delta variant, of the virus on computed tomography show firmness and ground glass opacities less frequently in vaccinated patients, but what about the Omicron variant? Recent publications have reported that it results in less severe clinical symptoms and shorter duration, fewer hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions, and a lower mortality rate than the delta variant. But the implications of this variant on CT images, depending on patients’ vaccination status, have been very little studied, only in limited populations.
This is why a French team, led by Dr. Guillaume Gourencourt, decided to study the effect of vaccination status and the dominant variable on chest CT findings, diagnostic and severity scores (according to SFR-SIT) in a real multi-center sample of successive patients referred to emergency departments due to COVID-19. Dr. Gorenkur says: “Our results confirm that the Omicron variant and vaccination were associated with a lower chest CT frequency typical of COVID-19 and a lower disease extent. On the other hand, a higher number of vaccine doses showed an increased protective effect against a higher severity score, confirming the benefit of the dose. anabolic steroid.”
A large-scale study confirms the reduced harm of the Omicron variant and the contribution of vaccination to patients’ condition
This is amazing A multicenter retrospective study, published in the journal Revue Radiology, including 3876 adults (mean age 68 years; 1695 women) seen in 93 emergency departments for SARS-CoV-2 infection between July 2021 and March 2022. Clinical data and structured reports on chest CT were extracted from the radiology database Al-Baadi. The observations were divided into delta-dominated, transitional, and omicron-dominated periods. Correlations between scores and variable and vaccination status were studied. Multicriteria analyzes evaluated the effect of omicron variable and vaccination status on prognosis and severity scores.
The analysis revealed that the omicron variant was associated with a lower probability of typical CT findings than the delta variant. Two and three doses of the vaccine were associated with a lower likelihood of typical CT findings or a high risk score, compared to unvaccinated patients.
Bruno Bencki with RSNA
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