Chest computed tomography in diagnosis of a new coronavirus infection in a patient with a negative result of laboratory testing

Abstract

urpose. The demonstration of the informativeness of chest computed tomography (CT) to detect pathological changes in the lungs typical for a new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Results. The report presents a clinical case of using chest CT for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in a 67-year-old patient with clinical signs of lung damage and a negative result of laboratory test using the method of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Discussion. Compared to RT-PCR, chest CT has high sensitivity in the diagnosis of inflammatory changes in the lungs typical for COVID-19, but low specificity. An indication for chest CT in a negative result of laboratory testing for COVID-19 is the presence of signs of moderate or severe lung damage in patients with a clinical picture typical for this disease. Conclusion. The clinical case demonstrates the importance of using chest CT in identifying patients with COVID-19, especially in the presence of characteristic clinical manifestations of this disease and a negative result of laboratory testing using the method of RT-PCR.