Chest low-dose CT in auxiliary diagnosis of corona virus disease 2019

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the clinical application value of chest low-dose CT (LDCT) in auxiliary diagnosis of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: Totally 50 COVID-19 patients with positive 2019 novel coronavirus nucleic acid test of pharynx swabs were selected. All patients underwent routine dose chest CT examination on the first time (routine dose group), and followed chest LDCT for the review examination after treatment (LD group). The image quality of was evaluated by 2 imaging doctors. Kappa test was used to analyze the consistency of the image quality Results: of 2 groups evaluated by the two physicians. The X-ray radiation dose of the two CT scanning schemes were compared. Results: The consistency of image quality scores of 2 groups evaluated by 2 physicians was relatively high (Kappa=0.65, P<0.05). There was no significant difference of image quality between LD group and routine dose group (Z=-0.93, P=0.35). The effective radiation dose (ED)in LD group ([2.43±0.66]mSv) reduced by 39.55% (t=0.85, P<0.01) compared with that of the routine dose group ([4.02±1.03]mSv). Conclusion: Chest LDCT scan can be used for clinical screening and auxiliary diagnosis of COVID-19, which can ensure the image quality, meet clinical diagnosis requirements and reduce the dose of X-ray radiation.