Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 62. No. 3, 2023.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20471/acc.2023.62.03.10
Evaluation of Patients with COVID-19 in the Early Hypoxemic Stage and Patients with Viral Respiratory Tract Infection in Terms of Pulmonary Hypertension
Selim Çınaroğlu
orcid.org/0000-0002-4495-6106
; Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Turkey
*
Kayhan Karakuş
; Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medical Science, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Turkey
Hacı Keleş
; Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Turkey
Mustafa Kaçmaz
; Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Faculty of Medical Science, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, Niğde, Turkey
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Arterial hypoxemia occurs in many COVID-19 patients. Hypoxemia is one
of the causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Main pulmonary artery dilatation and the main
pulmonary artery diameter (mPAD) to ascending aorta diameter (AAD) ratio of ≥1 are significant
findings regarding PH. In this study, COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients with viral
respiratory tract infection were evaluated retrospectively in terms of PH. A total of 124 patients
(71 male and 53 female), age range 18-85 years, were included in the study as case group and control
group. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) images, blood and biochemical parameters, and
demographic information were compared between the case group and control group. The normality
of numerical variables was examined with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and homogeneity of the
variances with Levene’s test. This is the first study researching the effect of early hypoxemic stage
COVID-19 infection on development of PH. As a result, it was specified that COVID-19 infection
had no effects on mPAD, whereas it had a positive effect on AAD and thus led to a decrease in the
mPAD/AAD ratio. Through these values, which could be easily calculated from thoracic CT images,
the changes caused by COVID-19 infection on vessel diameters were put forward.
Keywords
Ascending aorta; COVID-19; Pulmonary hypertension; Main pulmonary artery
Hrčak ID:
315075
URI
Publication date:
1.11.2023.
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