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Updated: Oct 12, 2025
Lung CT Segmentation to Identify Consolidations and Ground Glass Areas for Quantitative Assesment of SARS-CoV Pneumonia
Published on: December 19, 2020
Chest CT features of children infected by B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of COVID-19
Qi-Rui Cheng1, Ming-Xing Fan1, Jing Hao1
1Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No 72 Guanzhou Road, Nanjing, China.
Insights
Pediatric Delta-variant COVID-19 cases show milder chest CT findings than the original strain, with lesions peaking at 4-7 days. Dynamic CT re-examination indicates a good prognosis for children.
Area of Science:
- Radiology
- Pediatric Imaging
- Infectious Diseases
Background:
- Investigating the imaging characteristics of pediatric COVID-19.
- Comparing Delta-variant strain to the original COVID-19 strain in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore CT imaging features, diversity, and trends in pediatric Delta-variant COVID-19.
- To compare imaging findings between Delta-variant and original COVID-19 strains in children.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective comparative analysis of chest CT scans from 63 pediatric Delta-variant cases (2021) and 23 original COVID-19 cases (2020).
- Analysis of initial CT manifestations and imaging features.
- Exploration of changing trends using initial and follow-up CT scans.
Main Results:
- 34/63 (53.9%) pediatric Delta-variant cases showed positive chest CT findings with a significantly lower CT score (1.10±1.41) compared to original COVID-19 (2.56±3.5).
- Delta-variant lesions predominantly affected lower lung lobes, with ground glass and nodular opacities being common early CT findings.
- Lesion progression peaked between 4-7 days, with significant differences observed between the 0-3 day and 4-7 day groups, and the 4-7 day and >8 day groups.
Conclusions:
- Early CT manifestations in pediatric COVID-19 include subpleural nodular ground glass opacities.
- Delta-variant COVID-19 presents with milder chest CT changes compared to the original strain.
- Lesions peak within 4-7 days and resolve post-week; dynamic CT re-examination suggests a favorable prognosis.
Background:
This study aimed to explore the imaging characteristics, diversity and changing trend in CT scans of pediatric patients infected with Delta-variant strain by studying imaging features of children infected with Delta and comparing the results to those of children with original COVID-19.
Methods:
A retrospective, comparative analysis of initial chest CT manifestations between 63 pediatric patients infected with Delta variant in 2021 and 23 pediatric patients with COVID-19 in 2020 was conducted. Corresponding imaging features were analyzed. In addition, the changing trend in imaging features of COVID-19 Delta-variant cases were explored by evaluating the initial and follow-up CT scans.
Results:
Among 63 children with Delta-variant COVID-19 in 2021, 34 (53.9%) showed positive chest CT presentation; and their CT score (1.10 ± 1.41) was significantly lower than that in 2020 (2.56 ± 3.5) (P = 0.0073). Lesion distribution: lung lesions of Delta cases appear mainly in the lower lungs on both sides. Most children had single lobe involvement (18 cases, 52.9%), 14 (41.2%) in the right lung alone, and 14 (41.2%) in both lungs. A majority of Delta cases displayed initially ground glass (23 cases, 67.6%) and nodular shadows (13 cases, 38.2%) in the first CT scan, with few extrapulmonary manifestations. The 34 children with abnormal chest CT for the first time have a total of 92 chest CT examinations. These children showed a statistically significant difference between the 0-3 day group and the 4-7 day group (P = 0.0392) and a significant difference between the 4-7 day group and the more than 8 days group (P = 0.0003).
Conclusions:
The early manifestations of COVID-19 in children with abnormal imaging are mostly small subpleural nodular ground glass opacity. The changes on the Delta-variant COVID-19 chest CT were milder than the original strain. The lesions reached a peak on CT in 4-7 days and quickly improved and absorbed after a week. Dynamic CT re-examination can achieve a good prognosis.
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