Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 27, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 21, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jul 27, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Diagnostic Value of Imaging Modalities for COVID 19: A Literature Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious infectious disease resulting in severe respiratory illness. This pandemic represents a serious public health risk. Therefore, early and accurate diagnosis is essential to control disease progression. Radiological examinations play a crucial role in early identification and management of infected patients.
Objective:
To identify the diagnostic value of different imaging modalities used for diagnosis of COVID-19.
Methods:
A comprehensive literature search was conducted using the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The keywords diagnostic imaging, radiology, respiratory infection, pneumonia, coronavirus infection and COVID-19 were used to identify radiology articles focusing on the diagnosis of COVID-19 and to determine the diagnostic value of various imaging modalities, including x-ray, computed tomography ultrasound, and nuclear medicine for identification and management of infected patients.
Results:
50 articles were identified in the literature search. Studies that investigated the diagnostic role and imaging features of patients with COVID-19, using either chest CT, lung ultrasound, chest x-ray, or PET/CT scan, were discussed. Of these imaging modalities, chest x-ray and CT scan are commonly used for diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients, with chest CT scan being more accurate and sensitive in identifying COVID-19 at early stages. Only a few studies have investigated the role of ultrasound and PET/CT scan in diagnosing COVID-19.
Conclusions:
Chest CT scan remains the most sensitive imaging modality in initial diagnosis and management of suspected and confirmed patients with COVID-19. Other diagnostic imaging modalities could add value in evaluating disease progression and monitoring of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.