Clinical and radiologic characteristics of symptomatic pregnant women with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Objective: To describe the radiological features, diagnostic accuracy and features of imaging studies and their relation with clinical course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia in pregnant women. Material and Methods: The clinical, laboratory and radiological features of symptomatic pregnant women suspected for COVID-19 were retrospectively reviewed. Chest radiography (CXR) and chest CT findings of COVID-19 in pregnant women were identified. Results: Fifty-five of eighty-one pregnant women were included in the final analysis. The most common admission symptoms were dry cough (45.4%), fever (29.1%) and dyspnea (34.5%). Radiological imaging studies were performed to 34 (61.8%) patients. Fourteen (66.7%) of the laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients had parenchymal abnormalities in CXR, and most common abnormalities were airspace opacities (61.9%) and prominent bronchovascular shadows (28.6%). Seventeen (85.0%) of the patients had parenchymal abnormalities consistent with COVID-19 in their chest CT. Chest CT most commonly showed bilateral (88.2%), multilobe (100%) involvement; peripheral and central distribution (70.6%); patchy-shape (94.1%) and ground-glass opacity (94.1%). The sensitivity of CXR and chest CT was calculated as 66.7% and 83.3%, respectively. Preterm birth rate was 41.2% (n = 7/17). Five (9.1%) of the 55 pregnant women admitted to the intensive care unit, three of those developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and one of them died. Conclusion: This study describes the main radiological features of symptomatic pregnant women infected with COVID-19. The refusal rate among pregnant women for the imaging modalities involving ionizing radiation was high. The preterm birth and cesarean section rates were observed as remarkably increased.