EVALUATION OF PATIENTS WITH COVID-19 IN THE EARLY HYPOXEMIC STAGE AND PATIENTS WITH VIRAL RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTION IN TERMS OF PULMONARY HYPERTENSION.

Arterial hypoxemia occurs in many COVID-19 patients. Hypoxemia is one of the causes of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Main pulmonary artery dilatation and the main pulmonary artery diameter (mPAD) to ascending aorta diameter (AAD) ratio of ≥1 are significant findings regarding PH. In this study, COVID-19 patients and non-COVID-19 patients with viral respiratory tract infection were evaluated retrospectively in terms of PH. A total of 124 patients (71 male and 53 female), age range 18-85 years, were included in the study as case group and control group. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) images, blood and biochemical parameters, and demographic information were compared between the case group and control group. The normality of numerical variables was examined with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and homogeneity of the variances with Levene's test. This is the first study researching the effect of early hypoxemic stage COVID-19 infection on development of PH. As a result, it was specified that COVID-19 infection had no effects on mPAD, whereas it had a positive effect on AAD and thus led to a decrease in the mPAD/AAD ratio. Through these values, which could be easily calculated from thoracic CT images, the changes caused by COVID-19 infection on vessel diameters were put forward.