Behrooz Ataei1. 1. Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. E-mail: ataei@med.mui.ac.ir.
I read the letter from Professor Viroj Wiwanitit1 about our article entitled “Thoracic CT in 2009 H1N1 Influenza”2 with great interest. In response to the question “Is there any relationship between detected thoracic CT pattern and severity of the patients?” we may suggest a comparative study comparing thoracic CT findings in those with and without severe pulmonary symptoms and signs. Using logistic regression analysis and considering abnormal thoracic CT finding as a dependent variable and all severe pulmonary signs and symptoms as independent variables will enable us to find the chance of each variable in predicting abnormal CT findings.On the other hand, although thoracic CT is not routinely used in management of influenza, in our department for the patients with severe pulmonary symptoms and signs3 the thoracic CT was performed.We In addition, the most useful imaging modalities available for the evaluation of patients with suspected pulmonary infection are chest radiography and computed tomography (CT). Imaging examinations should always be interpreted with the knowledge of how symptomatic the patient is, the degree of dyspnoea, and the level of impairment.4