COVID-19 Pneumonia through a lens of surgeon and physician: An experience study in Basrah City

The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 virus represented the major disaster in the world in this century. It impacted all fields in the life and in all countries in the world. Imaging techniques play an important role in supporting the diagnosis, grading, severity, guiding treatment, diagnosing complications, and assessing the response to treatment. More than 500 patients confirmed diagnosis with COVID-19 were consulted at private clinics in Basrah, Iraq from December 2019 till April 2021. Chest X-ray is generally the first-line imaging test in patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 due to its usefulness, availability and low cost for our locality peoples. The chest X-ray may be normal in mild cases of disease. The most common findings are airspace opacities, which may be consolidations or, less frequently, ground-glass opacities. Males were 70% whereas females constituted 30% of the sample. Above 50 years was the age of the majority of patients. The mean age was 50.7±12.88 years. Smoker patients were 60%. Approximately, 49% of patients were obese, 20% overweight, and 31% with normal weight. Comorbidities were recorded in 62% of patients. In relation to marital status, 35% married, 23% divorce, 17% widowed, and 25% single. About 24% of patients were employer, 45% had no jobs, 25% were housewives, and only 6% were students. CXR play an important role in the management of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. COVID-19 pneumonia is characterized by the presence of ground-glass opacities and/or consolidations, which are typically bilateral and peripheral.