Combination of chest CT and clinical features for diagnosis of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia

Abstract

In December 2019, novel coronavirus pneumonia-19 (COVID-19) was discovered in the viral pneumonia cases that occurred in Wuhan, China, and then quickly spread around the world. This report described the clinical course of two COVID-19 patients and the purpose of the study was to discuss the combination of chest CT and clinical features for diagnosis of COVID-19. The first case was a typical COVID-19 case. A 66-year-old female presented to our hospital with a 3-day history of fever. She had contact with a COVID-19 patient. Chest CT showed a typical COVID-19 appearance. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 by a positive nucleic acid test. The second case was a 50-year-old male with a 2-day history of fever. He denied having been to Wuhan. Chest CT also showed typical features of COVID-19 pneumonia. COVID-19 nucleic acid tests were repeated up to seven times and the results remained controversial. Eventually, he was diagnosed with COVID-19. Our study shows that chest CT has high sensitivity for diagnosis of COVID-19 in clinical practice, particularly when the nucleic acid test is negative. The chest CT should be considered as a diagnostic tool for the COVID-19 screening, comprehensive evaluation, and follow-up and patients would benefit from effective treatments in time.