Comparison of RT-PCR Test andChest Computed Tomography in Diagnosis of COVID-19

Abstract

Aim: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused an acute lower respiratory tract infection epidemic. To detect diagnostic performance of British Society of Thoracic Imaging (BSTI) SARS-CoV-2 Disease CT classification criteria in diagnosis of the disease. Methods: Adult patients who presented our pandemic clinic with suspected SARS-CoV-2 Disease and underwent chest CT between March 14, 2020 and June 09, 2020 were included in the study. The chest CT images of the patients were evaluated according to the BSTI SARS-CoV-2 Disease CT classification criteria. The diagnostic performance of chest CT was calculated using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test as the gold standard in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Disease. Results: Of the 386 patients included in the study, 49.2% were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Disease. According to the BSTI Covit-19 CT classification criteria, the number of patients in the classic SARS-CoV-2 Disease, probable Covit-19, indeterminate and non-COVID diagnosis groups were 32.6%, 14.2%, 18.9% and 34.2%, respectively. Conclusions: The BSTI Covit-19 CT classification criteria showed very high diagnostic performance in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Disease. The use of these criteria to differentiate SARS-CoV-2 Disease pneumonia can standardize and optimize the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Disease and management of the disease.

Keywords

• Coronavirus Disease 2019
• Computed Tomography
• Diagnosis
• BSTI

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