Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 1;30(4):555-562.
doi: 10.53854/liim-3004-10. eCollection 2022.

COVID-19 chest CT and laboratory features of B.1.617.2 (Delta variant) vs B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) surge: a single center case-control study

Giulio Viceconte  1 , Andrea Ponsiglione  2 , Antonio Riccardo Buonomo  1 , Luigi Camera  2 , Riccardo Scotto  1 , Marco De Giorgi  2 , Lorenzo Pinto  2 , Biagio Pinchera  1 , Riccardo Villari  1 , Maria Foggia  1 , Gerardo Gerundo  3 , Pasquale Abete  3 , Arturo Brunetti  2 , Ivan Gentile  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 chest CT and laboratory features of B.1.617.2 (Delta variant) vs B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) surge: a single center case-control study

Giulio Viceconte et al. Infez Med. .

Abstract

Purpose: To assess clinical, laboratory and radiological differences between Delta and Alpha SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Materials and methods: Twenty SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted from 30th of August to 30th of October 2021 (period with estimated highest prevalence of Delta variant circulation in Italy) were enrolled. Patients were matched in a 1:1 ratio with same gender and same age +/- 2 years controls admitted from 1st of September 2020 to 30th of January 2021 (predominant circulation of Alpha variant). Chest computed tomography (CT) were retrospectively evaluated. Main clinical parameters, radiological and laboratory findings were compared between two groups.

Results: Patients with probable Delta variant had significantly higher CT severity scores, lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio and higher C-reactive protein and lactate dehydrogenase levels at admission. On multivariate analysis, probable Delta variant infection was associated with higher CT severity score. Ground glass opacities and crazy paving patterns were more frequently noticed than consolidation, with the latter being more frequent in Delta cohort, even though not significantly. According to prevalent imaging pattern, the consolidation one was significantly associated with pregnancy (p=0.008).

Conclusions: Patients admitted during predominance of Delta variant circulation had a more severe lung involvement compared to patients in infected when Alpha variant was predominant. Despite imaging pattern seems to be not influenced by viral variant and other clinical variables, the consolidative pattern was observed more frequently in pregnancy.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; computed tomography; pneumonia; variant of concern.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest CT findings of COVID-19 pneumonia on axial images of two patients respectively with probable Delta variant, showing predominant consolidative pattern with a CT severity score of 16 (A), and Alpha variant characterized by prevalent non-consolidative features with a CT severity score of 10 (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Qi X, Liu Y, Wang J, et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of COVID-19 patients with pre-existing cirrhosis: a multicentre cohort study. Gut [Internet] 2020. May 20, [cited 2020 Jun 26];gutjnl-2020-321666. Available from: https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2020/06/02/gutjnl-2020-321666. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nacoti M, Ciocca A, Giupponi A, et al. At the Epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic and humanitarian crises in Italy: changing perspectives on preparation and mitigation. NEJM Catal. 2020:1–5. Figure 1.
    1. Yang W, Sirajuddin A, Zhang X, et al. The role of imaging in 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) Eur Radiol. 2020;30(9):4874–4882. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-020-06827-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Forchette L, Sebastian W, Liu T. A Comprehensive review of COVID-19 virology, vaccines, variants, and therapeutics. Curr Med Sci. 2021;41(6):1037–1051. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ye Z, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Huang Z, Song B. Chest CT manifestations of new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a pictorial review. Eur Radiol [Internet] 2020 Aug 1;30(8):4381–4389. [cited 2022 Feb 14] Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-020-06801-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed