Chest computed tomography for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection screening for COVID‐19 before emergency and elective upper endoscopy: a pilot study

Ikehara, Hisatomo; Gotoda, Takuji; Kusano, Chika

The SARS‐CoV‐2 virus has spread worldwide and may present as an asymptomatic or subclinical infection(1). Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is associated with a high risk of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) owing to aerosol generation(2). Chest computed tomography (CT) can be undertaken in general clinical facilities and is as accurate in COVID‐19 diagnosis as real‐time reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR)(3). In April 2020, 31 patients underwent urgent or elective esophagogastroduodenoscopy at our institution. Among those, 21 patients experienced chest CT. None had fever, respiratory symptoms, or olfactory abnormalities. Patient characteristics are shown in Table 1. CT revealed possible COVID‐19 findings in two patients (Figure 1A, 1B), and the endoscopic procedure was postponed. The first patient underwent RT‐PCR twice, and the second patient also underwent LAMP test twice, all examinations showed negative results.