scholarly journals Diagnostic performance of chest computed tomography during the epidemic wave of COVID-19 varied as a function of time since the beginning of the confinement in France

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242840
Author(s):  
Samia Boussouar ◽  
Mathilde Wagner ◽  
Victoria Donciu ◽  
Nicoletta Pasi ◽  
Joe Elie Salem ◽  
...  

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the initial chest CT to diagnose COVID-19 related pneumonia in a French population of patients with respiratory symptoms according to the time from the onset of country-wide confinement to better understand what could be the role of the chest CT in the different phases of the epidemic. Material and method Initial chest CT of 1064 patients with respiratory symptoms suspect of COVID-19 referred between March 18th, and May 12th 2020, were read according to a standardized procedure. The results of chest CTs were compared to the results of the RT-PCR. Results 546 (51%) patients were found to be positive for SARS-CoV2 at RT-PCR. The highest rate of positive RT-PCR was during the second week of confinement reaching 71.9%. After six weeks of confinement, the positive RT-PCR rate dropped significantly to 10.5% (p<0.001) and even 2.2% during the two last weeks. Overall, CT revealed patterns suggestive of COVID-19 in 603 patients (57%), whereas an alternative diagnosis was found in 246 patients (23%). CT was considered normal in 215 patients (20%) and inconclusive in 1 patient. The overall sensitivity of CT was 88%, specificity 76%, PPV 79%, and NPV 85%. At week-2, the same figures were 89%, 69%, 88% and 71% respectively and 60%, 84%, 30% and 95% respectively at week-6. At the end of confinement when the rate of positive PCR became extremely low the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of CT were 50%, 82%, 6% and 99% respectively. Conclusion At the peak of the epidemic, chest CT had sufficiently high sensitivity and PPV to serve as a first-line positive diagnostic tool but at the end of the epidemic wave CT is more useful to exclude COVID-19 pneumonia.

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-52
Author(s):  
Tharani Putta ◽  
Kaushik Deconda

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Role of chest CT in diagnosis of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been controversial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of chest CT when utilizing COVID-19 Reporting and Data System (CO-RADS). METHODOLOGY: Retrospective study including consecutive patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test (initial or repeat test) and chest CT done in our institute between June and September 2020. Spectrum of CT ndings, CO-RADS score and 25 point CT severity score (CTSS) were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 300 consecutive patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection were included in the analysis. Out of the 168 patients who underwent CT prior to positive RT-PCR result, 125 (74.4%) had CO-RADS 3, 4 or 5 score on chest CT. 32 study patients (10.6%) had initial negative RT-PCR of which 24 (75%) had CO-RADS 4 or 5 score. Of the total patients with CO-RADS 3 to 5 score (227), 20 (8.8%) had severe lung involvement (CTSS 18-25), 83 (36.6%) had moderate lung involvement (CTSS 8-17) and 124 (54.6%) had mild lung involvement (CTSS 1-7). The mean CTSS was 7.9 with mean lobar score being higher in lower lobes (RLL=1.82, LLL=1.78) compared to the upper and middle lobes (RUL=1.61, RML=1.19, LUL=1.53). CONCLUSION:CT using CO-RADS scoring system has good diagnostic performance. In addition to assessing disease severity, it plays a vital role in triage of patients with suspected COVID-19 especially when there is limited availability of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests, delay in RT-PCR test results or in negative RT-PCR cases when there is high index of clinical suspicion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Wang ◽  
Hong He ◽  
Cong Liao ◽  
Hongtao Hu ◽  
Chun Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that first manifested in humans in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019, and has subsequently spread worldwide. Methods We conducted a retrospective, single-center case series of the seven maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients infected with COVID-19 at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from 13 January to 7 April 2020 and a proactive search of potential cases by chest computed tomography (CT) scans. Results Of 202 HD patients, 7 (3.5%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. Five were diagnosed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) because of compatible symptoms, while two were diagnosed by RT-PCR as a result of screening 197 HD patients without respiratory symptoms by chest CT. Thirteen of 197 patients had positive chest CT features and, of these, 2 (15%) were confirmed to have COVID-19. In COVID-19 patients, the most common features at admission were fatigue, fever and diarrhea [5/7 (71%) had all these]. Common laboratory features included lymphocytopenia [6/7 (86%)], elevated lactate dehydrogenase [3/4 (75%)], D-dimer [5/6 (83%)], high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [4/4 (100%)] and procalcitonin [5/5 (100%)]. Chest CT showed bilateral patchy shadows or ground-glass opacity in the lungs of all patients. Four of seven (57%) received oxygen therapy, one (14%) received noninvasive and invasive mechanical ventilation, five (71%) received antiviral and antibacterial drugs, three (43%) recieved glucocorticoid therapy and one (14%) received continuous renal replacement therapy. As the last follow-up, four of the seven patients (57%) had been discharged and three patients were dead. Conclusions Chest CT may identify COVID-19 patients without clear symptoms, but the specificity is low. The mortality of COVID-19 patients on HD was high.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S286-S286
Author(s):  
Monprach Harnphadungkit ◽  
Taweegrit Siripongboonsitti

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a wide range of severity. Chest computed tomography (CT) had high sensitivity and specificity to identify COVID-19 pneumonia. However, chest CT was not available in almost all hospitals in pandemic settings, including developed countries. This study is to evaluate the potential role of conventional inflammatory biomarkers to predict COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods All 155 RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients were evaluated for pneumonia by chest CT from April 10, 2021 to May 3, 2021 in the outpatient unit, a Thai university hospital. The inflammatory biomarkers were evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR-, and ROC to predict COVID-19 pneumonia. Results Of all 155 patients, pneumonia was diagnosed by chest CT in 117 patients. The pneumonia patients had a median (IQR) age of 38 (30, 55) years old. The BMI was higher in pneumonia than mild illness in 25.5 (22.0, 29.5) and 22.9 (19.4, 26.9) kg/m2, respectively (p=0.031). In univariate analysis, serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), ferritin, total lymphocyte count (TLC), and albumin were associated with pneumonia, but the only hsCRP demonstrated association by multivariate analysis. The area under the ROC curves (AUC) was 0.82, 0.74, 0.68, 0.38, and 0.37 in hsCRP, LDH, ferritin, TLC, and albumin, respectively. The optimal cut-off level for CRP to diagnose COVID-19 pneumonia was 2.00 mg/L given sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR- of 81.9%, 70.3%, 2.75, and 0.26 respectively (Figure 1 and Table 1). ROC Curve of hsCRP to Diagnose of COVID-19 Pneumonia This figure shows ROC curve for hsCRP to diagnose of chest CT-confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia. The area under the ROC curve is 0.82. The optimal cut-off value for hsCRP is 2.00 given sensitivity of 81.9% and specificity of 70.3%. Conclusion The hsCRP was the conventional biomarker that had an excellent performance in predicting COVID-19 pneumonia lead to early anti-SARS-CoV-2 treatment. This study demonstrated the potential role of hsCRP combined with clinical assessment in negative chest X-rays to replace chest CT in a high burden COVID-19 country during pandemic situations. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo Zhang ◽  
Zhewei Zhao ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Wen Zhang ◽  
Shuyang Zhang

Abstract Early diagnosis and isolation of cases are particularly crucial for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in global pandemic. The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic performance of chest computed tomography (CT) and imaging features for diagnosing COVID-19. Diagnostic accuracy studies of CT and RT-PCR in patients with clinically suspected COVID-19, which were published up to April 25th, 2020 from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. Twelve studies (n=2,204) were included. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of chest CT for detecting COVID-19 were 94.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 89.5 to 97.2%) and 41.8% (95% CI 24.2 to 61.6%), 1.6 (95% CI: 1.6-2.3), 0.13 (95% CI: 0.06-0.31), and 12.4 (95% CI: 4.0-38.5), respectively. Initial RT-PCR revealed a better diagnostic performance. Peripheral lesions, bilateral involvement, multiple lesions, and ground-glass opacities (GGO), revealed to be with better diagnostic value than other CT manifestations. Using chest CT for COVID-19 diagnosis has a high sensitivity and a relatively low specificity. Bilateral multiple peripheral lesions and GGO revealed to be with better diagnostic value. For areas with high prevalence, chest CT could be a good screening test to preliminary screen patients with COVID-19 quickly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Nicole Vieira Pinto Barbosa ◽  
Almir Galvão Vieira Bitencourt ◽  
Gabriel Diaz de Miranda ◽  
Maria Fernanda Arruda Almeida ◽  
Rubens Chojniak

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of chest computed tomography (CT) in patients with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection at a cancer center. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center study selected 91 patients who had chest CT and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test collected at the same day. CT results were classified in negative, typical, indeterminate or atypical findings. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were calculated for two different scenarios: in the first, only typical findings on CT were considered positive; in the second, both typical and indeterminate findings were considered positive. Results: Mean patients’ age was 58.2 years, most were male (60.4%) and had prior diagnosis of cancer (85.7%). CT showed typical findings in 28.6%, indeterminate findings in 24.2% and atypical findings in 26.4%. RT-PCR results were positive for SARS-CoV-2 in 27.5%. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in the first and second scenarios were respectively 64.0%, 84.8% and 79.1%, and 92.0%, 62.1% and 70.3%. Conclusion: CT has a high accuracy for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Different interpretation criteria can provide either high sensitivity or high specificity. CT should be integrated as a triage test in resource-constrained environments during the pandemic to assist in the optimization of PCR-tests, isolation beds and intensive care units.


Author(s):  
Ali H. Elmokadem ◽  
Dalia Bayoumi ◽  
Sherif A. Abo-Hedibah ◽  
Ahmed El-Morsy

Abstract Background To evaluate the diagnostic performance of chest CT in differentiating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and non-COVID-19 causes of ground-glass opacities (GGO). Results A total of 80 patients (49 males and 31 females, 46.48 ± 16.09 years) confirmed with COVID-19 by RT-PCR and who underwent chest CT scan within 2 weeks of symptoms, and 100 patients (55 males and 45 females, 48.94 ± 18.97 years) presented with GGO on chest CT were enrolled in the study. Three radiologists reviewed all CT chest exams after removal of all identifying data from the images. They expressed the result as positive or negative for COVID-19 and recorded the other pulmonary CT features with mention of laterality, lobar affection, and distribution pattern. The clinical data and laboratory findings were recorded. Chest CT offered diagnostic accuracy ranging from 59 to 77.2% in differentiating COVID-19- from non-COVID-19-associated GGO with sensitivity from 76.25 to 90% and specificity from 45 to 67%. The specificity was lower when differentiating COVID-19 from non-COVID-19 viral pneumonias (30.5–61.1%) and higher (53.1–70.3%) after exclusion of viral pneumonia from the non-COVID-19 group. Patients with COVID-19 were more likely to have lesions in lower lobes (p = 0.005), peripheral distribution (p < 0.001), isolated ground-glass opacity (p = 0.043), subpleural bands (p = 0.048), reverse halo sign (p = 0.005), and vascular thickening (p = 0.013) but less likely to have pulmonary nodules (p < 0.001), traction bronchiectasis (p = 0.005), pleural effusion (p < 0.001), and lymphadenopathy (p < 0.001). Conclusions Chest CT offered reasonable sensitivity when differentiating COVID-19- from non-COVID-19-associated GGO with low specificity when differentiating COVID-19 from other viral pneumonias and moderate specificity when differentiating COVID-19 from other causes of GGO.


Author(s):  
Damiano Caruso ◽  
Francesco Pucciarelli ◽  
Marta Zerunian ◽  
Balaji Ganeshan ◽  
Domenico De Santis ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the potential role of texture-based radiomics analysis in differentiating Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pneumonia from pneumonia of other etiology on Chest CT. Materials and methods One hundred and twenty consecutive patients admitted to Emergency Department, from March 8, 2020, to April 25, 2020, with suspicious of COVID-19 that underwent Chest CT, were retrospectively analyzed. All patients presented CT findings indicative for interstitial pneumonia. Sixty patients with positive COVID-19 real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and 60 patients with negative COVID-19 RT-PCR were enrolled. CT texture analysis (CTTA) was manually performed using dedicated software by two radiologists in consensus and textural features on filtered and unfiltered images were extracted as follows: mean intensity, standard deviation (SD), entropy, mean of positive pixels (MPP), skewness, and kurtosis. Nonparametric Mann–Whitney test assessed CTTA ability to differentiate positive from negative COVID-19 patients. Diagnostic criteria were obtained from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results Unfiltered CTTA showed lower values of mean intensity, MPP, and kurtosis in COVID-19 positive patients compared to negative patients (p = 0.041, 0.004, and 0.002, respectively). On filtered images, fine and medium texture scales were significant differentiators; fine texture scale being most significant where COVID-19 positive patients had lower SD (p = 0.004) and MPP (p = 0.004) compared to COVID-19 negative patients. A combination of the significant texture features could identify the patients with positive COVID-19 from negative COVID-19 with a sensitivity of 60% and specificity of 80% (p = 0.001). Conclusions Preliminary evaluation suggests potential role of CTTA in distinguishing COVID-19 pneumonia from other interstitial pneumonia on Chest CT.


Medicinus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Aziza Ghanie Icksan ◽  
Muhammad Hafiz ◽  
Annisa Dian Harlivasari

<p><strong>Background : </strong>The first case of COVID-19 in Indonesia was recorded in March 2020. Limitation of reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has put chest CT as an essential complementary tool in the diagnosis and follow up treatment for COVID-19. Literatures strongly suggested that High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) is essential in diagnosing typical symptoms of COVID-19 at the early phase of disease due to its superior sensitivity  (97%) compared to chest x-ray (CXR).</p><p>The two cases presented in this case study showed the crucial role of chest CT with HRCT to establish the working diagnosis and follow up COVID-19 patients as a complement to RT-PCR, currently deemed a gold standard.<strong></strong></p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Ducrest ◽  
A. Freymond ◽  
J.-M. Segura

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of Simtomax® CoronaCheck, a serology rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for the detection of IgG and IgM against SARS-CoV-2. 48 plasma samples positive for SARS-CoV-2 based on RT-PCR and 98 negative control samples were studied. Diagnostic performance of the IgG/IgM RDT was assessed against RT-PCR and the electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 total Ig. Overall, the RDT sensitivity was 92% (95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 79-97), specificity 97% (95% CI: 91-99%), PPV 94% (95% CI: 81-98) and the NPV 96% (95% CI: 89-99). When considering only samples collected ≥ 15 days post-symptoms (DPS), the sensitivity increased to 98% (95%CI: 86-100) and the specificity was 97% (95% CI: 91-99%). Two samples with 180 DPS were still positive for IgG. Globally, this IgG/IgM RDT displayed a high diagnostic accuracy for SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM detection in plasma samples in high COVID-19 prevalence settings. It could be effectively used, in absence of facilities for routine diagnostic serology, for samples with a DPS between 15 and 180 days.Highlights–The rapid diagnostic test Simtomax CoronaCheck displays a high sensitivity of 98% and a high specificity of 97% for SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM detection in plasma samples after 15 days post-symptoms.–The rapid diagnostic test Simtomax CoronaCheck can detect SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in plasma up to 180 days after symptom onset.–The rapid diagnostic test Simtomax CoronaCheck could be effectively used as an alternative to serological analysis using laboratory facilities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 245 (13) ◽  
pp. 1096-1103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly D Wong ◽  
Theresa Thai ◽  
Yuhua Li ◽  
Hong Liu

The rapid and dramatic increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 has led to a global pandemic. Early detection and containment are currently the most effective methods for controlling the outbreak. A positive diagnosis is determined by laboratory real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) testing, but the use of chest computed tomography (CT) has also been indicated as an important tool for detection and management of the disease. Numerous studies reviewed in this paper largely concur in their findings that the early hallmarks of COVID-19 infection are ground-glass opacities (GGOs), often with a bilateral and peripheral lung distribution. In addition, most studies demonstrated similar CT findings related to the progression of the disease, starting with GGOs in early disease, followed by the development of crazy paving in middle stages and finally increasing consolidation in the later stages of the disease. Studies have reported a low rate of misdiagnosis by chest CT, as well as a high rate of misdiagnosis by the rRT-PCR tests. Specifically, chest CT provides more accurate results in the early stages of COVID-19, when it is critical to begin treatment as well as isolate the patient to avoid the spread of the virus. While rRT-PCR will probably remain the definitive final test for COVID-19, until it is more readily available and can consistently provide higher sensitivity, the use of chest CT for early stage detection has proven valuable in avoiding misdiagnosis as well as monitoring the progression of the disease. With the understanding of the role of chest CT, researchers are beginning to apply deep learning and other algorithms to differentiate between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 CT scans, determine the severity of the disease to guide the course of treatment, and investigate numerous additional COVID-19 applications. Impact statement The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been worldwide, and clinicians and researchers around the world have been working to develop effective and efficient methods for early detection as well as monitoring of the disease progression. This minireview compiles the various agency and expert recommendations, along with results from studies published in numerous countries, in an effort to facilitate the research in imaging technology development to benefit the detection and monitoring of COVID-19. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review paper on the topic, and it provides a brief, yet comprehensive analysis.


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