Skip to main content

Consensus Offers Best Practices for Post-COVID-19 Residual Abnormalities on Chest CT

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on July 25, 2025.

via HealthDay

FRIDAY, July 25, 2025 -- In an international multisociety consensus statement, published online July 22 in Radiology, recommendations are presented for computed tomography (CT) imaging in patients with residual lung abnormalities after COVID-19 respiratory infection.

Noting that residual lung abnormalities on CT scans after COVID-19 respiratory infection have been described using various terms, Soon Ho Yoon, M.D., Ph.D., from the Seoul National University College of Medicine in South Korea, and colleagues developed a multisociety consensus statement to standardize the indication, acquisition, and reporting of post-COVID-19 residual lung abnormalities on CT scans.

The recommendations include use of chest CT in patients with persistent or progressive respiratory symptoms at three months after infection, use of low-dose CT protocols for follow-up CT examinations, use of radiological descriptors from the Fleischner Society glossary of terms, and avoidance of the term "interstitial lung abnormality" for description of post-COVID-19 abnormalities. The term "post-COVID-19 residual lung abnormality" should be used to prevent misinterpretation of post-COVID-19 abnormalities as an early manifestation of interstitial lung disease.

"These statements recommend employing terms from the Fleischner Society Glossary to describe CT findings consistently and precisely, avoiding the use of 'interstitial lung abnormality,' which refers to a different clinical context," coauthor Anna Rita Larici, M.D., from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, said in a statement. "In addition, we have coined and recommended the term 'post-COVID-19 residual lung abnormality' to prevent any misleading term when describing CT lung abnormalities following COVID-19 pneumonia."

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical, medical device, and other industries.

Abstract/Full Text

Editorial

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Read this next

440 Deaths in Los Angeles County Reported Due to January 2025 Wildfires

TUESDAY, Aug. 12, 2025 -- An estimated 440 deaths from Jan. 5 to Feb. 1, 2025, in Los Angeles County were attributable to the Los Angeles wildfires, according to a research letter...

Larazotide May Speed Recovery in Children With Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6, 2025 -- Treatment of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MISC), a postacute sequela of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)...

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Targeting Omicron JN.1 Lineage Safe

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6, 2025 -- Vaccination with the updated COVID-19 mRNA vaccine containing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 Omicron JN.1 lineage was not...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.