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Review
. 2022 Mar;16(3):263-272.
doi: 10.1080/17476348.2022.2049760. Epub 2022 Mar 10.

COVID-19 Smart Diagnosis in the Emergency Department: all-in in Practice

Dimitra S Mouliou  1   2 , Ioannis Pantazopoulos  1   2 , Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis  2
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 Smart Diagnosis in the Emergency Department: all-in in Practice

Dimitra S Mouliou et al. Expert Rev Respir Med. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) diagnosis has been a major problem in most Emergency Departments (EDs) and other senior care facilities. Various clinical manifestations, and the several radiologic and laboratory data combined with the misleading test results to identify the virus, are responsible for certain misdiagnoses, especially in suspected cases needing urgent management and treatment. Although emergency and other front-line physicians struggle to manage COVID-19 patients, still existent cases with ambiguous diagnosis trammel the ED safety and responsibility.

Areas covered: This review article summarizes on a large scale the common information for the medical history, clinical examinations, radiology and laboratory data for SARS-CoV-2. We summarize the available literature using the PubMed, Science Direct and EMBASE databases published until December 2021 on the general information for COVID-19 diagnosis, and, finally, we propose algorithms for a precise and on-the-spot diagnosis the disease.

Expert opinion: COVID-19 diagnosis has appeared to be such ambiguous, and physicians need to correlate medical history, medical examination, potential extrapulmonary manifestations, along with laboratory and radiologic data, for a prompt COVID-19 diagnosis.

Keywords: COVID-19; Emergency Department; diagnosis.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Diagnosing COVID-19 in the Emergency Department, in places with high SARS-CoV-2 prevalence.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Diagnosing COVID-19 in the Emergency Department, in places with low SARS-CoV-2 prevalence.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Algorithm for predicting and preventing potential misleading nucleic acid SARS-CoV-2 test results in the Emergency Department.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Algorithm for predicting and preventing potential misleading antigen SARS-CoV-2 test results in the Emergency Department.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Algorithm for predicting and preventing potential misleading anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies test results in the Emergency Department.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    2. •• this review summarizes the reasons for potential false results in all testing assays.