Differential Diagnosis between Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Interstitial Pneumonia

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China in late 2019, which was manifested as fever, cough, dyspnea, normal level of white blood cells, decreased blood lymphocytes, and pulmonary opacities on CT scans. National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China has revised the recommendations on COVID-19 seven times, but there are still many challenges in the diagnosis and management of COVID-19. The radiological findings in a proportion of patients revealed diffuse interstitial opacities, mimicking interstitial pneumonia. Thus it is essential to differentiate the COVID-19 from the acute and progressive diffuse interstitial lung diseases in order to avoid misdiagnosis or overdiagnosis. Therefore, our study compared COVID-19 with interstitial pneumonia and tried to explore the differential diagnostic algorithm.