Anatomical changes in the lungs in COVID-19

Background/Aims: Our study aimed to determine whether any changes occurred in the trachea and bronchi of COVID-19 patients by making diameter and length measurements on Computed Tomography (CT) images. Methods: The study was conducted on 78 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, followed up and treated, and 52 healthy controls. Tracheal diameter, tracheal cross-sectional area, bronchial diameter and length, and pulmonary artery diameter values were measured on CT images of COVID-19 patients and compared with the measurement values of people without COVID-19 disease. Results: As a result of our study, significant differences were found in some morphometric measurements of the trachea and bronchi in COVID-19 patients according to gender and CT involvement level. In addition, there was observed a significant increase in pulmonary artery diameter in COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: The combined evaluation of lung CT features and pulmonary artery diameter may help to predict patients who may be at risk and complications that may develop. In the literature we can access, we could not find any studies on the morphometric evaluation of airways in COVID-19 patients. We think that the data obtained in our study will contribute to the literature on COVID-19.