Altered pulmonary blood volume distribution as a biomarker for predicting outcomes in COVID-19 disease.

Introduction: Evidence suggests that vascular inflammation and thrombosis may be important drivers of poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. We hypothesised that a significant decrease in the percentage of blood volume in vessels with a cross-sectional area between 1.25 and 5 mm relative to the total pulmonary blood volume (BV5%) on chest computed tomography (CT) in COVID-19 patients is predictive of adverse clinical outcomes.

Assessment of Small Pulmonary Blood Vessels in COVID-19 Patients Using HRCT.

Rationale And Objectives: Mounting evidence supports the role of pulmonary hemodynamic alternations in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Previous studies have demonstrated that changes in pulmonary blood volumes measured on computed tomography (CT) are associated with histopathological markers of pulmonary vascular pruning, suggesting that quantitative CT analysis may eventually be useful in the assessment pulmonary vascular dysfunction more broadly.

Materials And Methods: Building upon previous work, automated quantitative CT measures of small blood vessel volume and pulmonary vascular density were developed.