The utility of HRCT in the initial diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia—An Indian perspective

Abstract

A total of 1,499 patients who underwent High Resolution Computed tomography (HRCT) chest in the duration of 2 months for suspected COVID-19 pneumonia were included. Subjects included were those who had tested positive for the virus on RT-PCR, those with symptoms suspicious for COVID-19 infection awaiting results for the RT-PCR test or with negative result but strong clinical suspicion as well as those with exposure to proven patients based on contact tracing. Thus, both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic patients were included. The positive predictive value of HRCT was 85%, sensitivity was 73% for all patients. Overall, accuracy was 68%. There was no significant difference in these values for symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. These results were also independent of the time of scan from the onset of symptoms or contact. Thus, we propose that HRCT is an excellent adjunct for initial diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia in both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in addition to the role of prognostic indicator for COVID-19 pneumonia.

Correlation of SARS-CoV-2 infection severity with ABO blood groups and RhD antigen: a case-control study

“… 16 Therefore, the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia was considered based on a report from a qualified radiologist together with the satisfaction of the treating physician with HRCT findings, particularly ground-glass opacities. 17 – 19 …”

“…16 Therefore, the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia was considered based on a report from a qualified radiologist together with the satisfaction of the treating physician with HRCT findings, particularly ground-glass opacities. [17][18][19] 3. Typical clinical presentation plus history of close contact with patients with COVID-19 confirmed by RT-PCR.…”

“…The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) is a rapidly spreading infection regarded by the World Health Organization as a pandemic. 1,2 SARS-CoV2 is an enclosed RNA virus that belongs to the family Coronaviridae and is frequently spherical on electron microscopy imaging.…”

Comparison of COVID-19 Antigen Test and HRCT Chest with RT- PCR Test for Diagnosis of COVID-19

“…13 A study from India, also pointed out they could find patients who had RT-PCR negative and yet had HRCT findings suggestive of COVID pneumonia, so those patients could actually be false negative on RT-PCR. 14 With this background, if we consider CO-RADS 5 category on HRCT to be gold standard for symptomatic patients with lung involvement, RT-PCR was found to have a sensitivity of only 80.6% with a specificity of 77.6%. A pre-print study conducted to provide estimates of the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the RT-PCR test developed by China CDC estimated the sensitivity of RT-PCR to be 0.777 while the specificity was 0.988.…”

COVID-19: The Second Wave—Are There Lessons from the First Wave to Prepare Us for the Second Wave?

“… 2 This finding has subsequently been supported by numerous international and more importantly national researchers. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kashyape and Jain 8 did an interesting study of 1,499 patients and divided them into two groups, symptomatic and asymptomatic. Interestingly the percentage of positive high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) was similar irrespective of their symptoms, debunking the theory that asymptomatics have a very low percentage of positive imaging studies.…”