Quantification of Pulmonary Radiological Structures after Drug Treatment for COVID-19

• Grant number: 24/04195-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Diana Rodrigues de Pina Miranda
• Grantee: Davi Bonaldo Soler Pantano
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

With the end of the pandemic phase of COVID-19, interest and concern for the late manifestations of this disease - the so-called long COVID - are growing. About one-third of COVID-19 hospitalized patients exhibit abnormalities in chest computed tomography (CT) scans twelve months after infection. Thus, CT is an important tool for the diagnosis and evaluation of COVID-19 complications. However, this assessment is subjective and requires trained specialists. Improvements in visualization and quantifications of radiological structures and findings are essential for better diagnosis and quantitative determination of the affected pulmonary percentage. Therefore, this research aims to apply computational algorithms to quantify radiological manifestations in CT images of COVID-19 hospitalized patients after treatment, in order to assess the presence and extent of COVID-19 pulmonary sequelae. Computational methods will be employed for segmentation and quantification of anatomical findings in CT images in the early and late stages of the disease, aiming to compare the temporal evolution of the manifestations. This type of analysis will provide greater support for medical decisions, providing data support for the treatment and sequencing of cured patients and generating technological processes for diagnostic assistance and data support involving pulmonary structures affected by COVID-19.