Lung Scintigraphy Imaging Features in a Young Patient With COVID-19

Clin Nucl Med. 2020 Dec;45(12):e523-e524. doi: 10.1097/RLU.0000000000003196.

Abstract

A 31-year-old man developed diarrhea, fatigue, and intermittent fever for 2 weeks. The past few days he had experienced increasing dyspnea and dry cough. Ambulatory reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction testing was positive for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Because of elevated D-dimer (1.5 mg/L), a lung scintigraphy (V/Q scan) was performed as SPECT/CT. Ventilation SPECT showed reduced ventilation with central nuclide deposition, whereas perfusion SPECT was inconspicuous, excluding pulmonary embolism. However, the low-dose CT revealed bilateral ground-glass opacities as previously described in COVID-19. This case highlights the procedure and findings of V/Q scanning (without embolism) in COVID-19.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Betacoronavirus*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / complications
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnostic imaging*
  • Cough / etiology
  • Fever / etiology
  • Humans
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging*
  • Male
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / complications
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnostic imaging*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Computed Tomography
  • Ventilation-Perfusion Scan