Chest computed tomography in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in patients with false negative RT-PCR

• Published in: Einstein (São Paulo, Brazil) Brazil), 2021-01, Vol.19, p.eAO6363-eAO6363
• Main Authors: Fonseca, Eduardo Kaiser Ururahy Nunes, Ferreira, Lorena Carneiro, Loureiro, Bruna Melo Coelho, Strabelli, Daniel Giunchetti, Farias, Lucas de Pádua Gomes de, Queiroz, Gabriel Abrantes de, Garcia, José Vitor Rassi, Teixeira, Renato de Freitas, Gama, Victor Arcanjo Almeida, Chate, Rodrigo Caruso, Assunção, Antonildes Nascimento, Sawamura, Márcio Valente Yamada, Nomura, Cesar Higa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coronavirus; Coronavirus infections; COVID-19; MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL; Original; Pneumonia, viral; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Tomography, X-ray computed
• ISSN: 1679-4508; 2317-6385; 2317-6385
• DOI: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2021AO6363

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the role of chest computed tomography in patients with COVID-19 who presented initial negative result in reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). METHODSA single-center, retrospective study that evaluated 39 patients with negative RT-PCR for COVID-19, who underwent chest computed tomography and had a final clinical or serological diagnosis of COVID-19. The visual tomographic classification was evaluated according to the Consensus of the Radiological Society of North America and software developed with artificial intelligence for automatic detection of findings and chance estimation of COVID-19. RESULTSIn the visual tomographic analysis, only one of them (3%) presented computed tomography classified as negative, 69% were classified as typical and 28% as indeterminate. In the evaluation using the software, only four (about 10%) had a probability of COVID-19