Changes of Chest X-Rays in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

[Objective] To study the features and changes of chest X-rays in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) . [Methods] A retrospective study on the results of chest X-rays was carried out in 85 SARS patients admitted to the second affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of TCM from February to April of 2002. The occurrence, distribution and shape of the focus., as well as its progress, were investigated in the stages of occurrence, development, fastigium and absorption. [Results] Chest X-ray showed that shadows were found on the 3rd or 4th day of febrile course in most cases (72.9%) and on the 8th day in only one case. Distribution of focus varied in different stages. In the early stage, Lesions focused on the lower lobe in 88.2% of the cases, which was much more than that in other lobes. Lesions involved more than two lobes in 58.8 % of the cases in the developing stage and 80% in the stage of fastigium. Once the shadow occurred, the lesions quickly diffuse to unilateral or bilateral lung, with 80% of the cases having the multifocal leion. Shadows were patchy in most of the cases and reticular in some in the early stage, cloudy and ground-glass-like in most of cases in the developing stage, ground-glass-like in the stage of fastigium and in the stage of absorption cloudy and patchy in most of the cases and streak-like in a few cases. [ Conclusion ] The typical features and changes of chest radiographs in SARS are the valuable information for the diagnosis and the prognosis of SARS.