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Review
. 2020 Dec;9(1):787-793.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1750307.

Diagnostic value and key features of computed tomography in Coronavirus Disease 2019

Bingjie Li  1 , Xin Li  1 , Yaxuan Wang  1 , Yikai Han  1 , Yidi Wang  1 , Chen Wang  1 , Guorui Zhang  2 , Jianjun Jin  2 , Hongxia Jia  2 , Feifei Fan  2 , Wang Ma  1 , Hong Liu  2 , Yue Zhou  3
Affiliations
Review

Diagnostic value and key features of computed tomography in Coronavirus Disease 2019

Bingjie Li et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

On 31 December 2019, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, and caused the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). To date, computed tomography (CT) findings have been recommended as major evidence for the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 in Hubei, China. This review focuses on the imaging characteristics and changes throughout the disease course in patients with COVID-19 in order to provide some help for clinicians. Typical CT findings included bilateral ground-glass opacity, pulmonary consolidation, and prominent distribution in the posterior and peripheral parts of the lungs. This review also provides a comparison between COVID-19 and other diseases that have similar CT findings. Since most patients with COVID-19 infection share typical imaging features, radiological examinations have an irreplaceable role in screening, diagnosis and monitoring treatment effects in clinical practice.

Keywords: Coronavirus Disease 2019; SARS-CoV-2; computed tomography; diagnosis; ground-glass opacity.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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