Diagnostic role of chest computed tomography in coronavirus disease 2019

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) is an infectious disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), that appeared in China in December 2019 and spread globally, evolving into the currently observed pandemic. The laboratory diagnosis of SARS‑CoV‑2 infection is currently based on real‑time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT‑PCR) testing, and imaging cannot replace genetic testing in patients with suspected COVID‑19. However, with predominant respiratory manifestations of COVID‑19, particularly in more severe cases, chest imaging using computed tomography (CT) plays a major role in detecting viral lung infection, evaluating the nature and extent of pulmonary lesions, and monitoring the disease activity. The role of chest CT as a diagnostic tool may be increased when the laboratory testing capacities using RT‑PCR prove inaccurate or insufficient during a major outbreak of the disease. In these settings, a rapid presumptive diagnosis of COVID‑19 potentially offered by CT might be an advantage, in addition to obvious benefits of delineating the nature and extent of pulmonary lesions. In the present paper, we reviewed the diagnostic role of chest CT in patients with COVID‑19.