Objective: To determine the accuracy of CT chest in diagnosis of COVID-19 taking RT-PCR-testing as gold standard. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 patients of suspicion of COVID-19 who were referred for CT Chest in Radiology Department of Nishtar Medical University Multan from June-2020 to May-2021 were included. In all patients, two RT-PCR test results were obtained with 7 days of admission in hospital. Presence of any of these positive was labelled as COVID-19 infection. CT chest was performed in all patients within 2 days of admission in hospital using 128 slices CT scan machine. The diagnosis of COVID-19 infection was made according to the recommendations by Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) protocol. Results: Mean age was 51.3±14.7 years. 78 (52%) patients were male and 72 (48%) patients were female. RT-PCR test was positive in 89 (59.3%) patients. While the CT chest findings were suggestive of COVID-19 infection in 130 (86.7%) patients. The sensitivity of CT chest was 95.5%, specificity 26.2%, PPV wad 65.4% and NPV was 80.0%. Conclusion: CT chest has a very good sensitivity for detection of COVID-19, it can be used as a rapid diagnostic tool especially in areas of pandemic. However, the specificity of CT chest is low, that can limit its use in low COVID-19 affected areas.
Accuracy of computed tomography for detection of COVID-19 among suspected patients