2.3. Radiological analyses

High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of thorax CT scans were evaluated while screening for pulmonary lesions. All the images were obtained via a 256-slice CT device (Revolution ^TM CT; General Electric Healthcare Company, Chicago, Illinois, USA). The CT scans were recorded while patients were at the end of inspiration and in the supine position. The axial images were obtained craniocaudally, and they covered the body parts from the thoracic inlet to the diaphragm. No contrast media was used during the scans. In the scans, the technical parameters for HRCT and thorax CT included 120 kV, 250 mA, 0.625 slice thickness, and 512 × 512 matrix. The reconstructed images were also obtained and used in the current study. A chest radiology specialist (Aydin AM, who had 23 years of experience in the profession) reviewed the thorax CT images. The thorax CT images were evaluated with both mediastinal (width: 350 HU, level: 40 HU) and lung (width: 1400 HU, level: −500 HU) window level settings.

In the study, we especially evaluated the two most common imaging features that were defined in previous studies. These included ground-glass opacities (GGO) and consolidation [6,7]. The presence of a single lobe lesion was considered as a limited involvement while multiple lobe lesions were considered as diffuse involvement for both GGO and consolidation.