Sensitivity and specificity of chest computed tomography scan based on RT-PCR in COVID-19 diagnosis

Mirahmadizadeh, Alireza; Pourmontaseri, Zahra; Afrashteh, Sima; Hosseinzadeh, Mehrnaz; Karimi, Jalal; Sharafi, Mehdi

PURPOSE: COVID-19 is a novel, severely contagious and progressive infection occurring worldwide. The diagnosis of the disease is based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and computed tomography (CT) scan, even though they are still controversial methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 54 patients with suspected COVID-19 and the two mentioned methods were compared with each other. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity of the abnormal chest CT scan, ground-glass opacity (GGO), consolidation opacity, and both of GGO and consolidation were also surveyed based on RT-PCR. The results showed that RT-PCR assay was negative in 23 (42.6%) patients and positive in 31 (57.4%) cases. Also, the patients with an abnormal chest CT scan comprised 37 (68.5%). The sensitivity and specificity of abnormal CT scan were 78.6% and 42.3%, respectively, based on the RT-PCR method. CONCLUSIONS: Other techniques alongside CT scan and RT-PCR are advocated for accuracy of the COVID-19 diagnosis.