Atypical CT Pattern in COVID-19 Infection: Are Lung Cavitations Really Uncommon?

The standard for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 virus is reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test, but chest CT may play a complimentary role in the diagnostic algorithm. A diversity of interesting CT imaging features was found but lung cavitations or abscess were described as rare pattern, and for this reason labeled as atypical. In this study we describe six confirmed cases of COVID-19 subjects which developed lung cavitations, out of 45 studied patients (13.3%). CT scan was performed on average 27 days after admissions, and all the patients have been previously intubated. Our findings are remarkable because lung cavitations in COVID-19 patients have been described very rarely so far.