Thoracic imaging for diagnosing COVID‐19 (search done on 30 September 2020)
Citation: Islam N, Ebrahimzadeh S. Salameh J, et al. Thoracic imaging tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2021;(3):CD013639. Podcast available in EN / ES / ZH.
What is this? A variety of tests, including thoracic imaging, are being used to diagnose COVID-19.
In this Cochrane living review, the authors searched for studies comparing the diagnostic accuracy of thoracic imaging versus laboratory-based PCR tests in people with suspected COVID-19. They did not restrict their searches by language of publication and did the search for the current version on 30 September 2020. They included 51 studies (19,775 patients), which evaluated chest CT-scans (41 studies), chest X-ray (9) and ultrasound of the lungs (5).
What was found: At the time of this review, the included studies showed that chest CT-scans are better at ruling out COVID‐19 infection than distinguishing it from other respiratory problems.
The accuracy of chest X-ray and ultrasound of the lungs in diagnosing or ruling out COVID-19 remains uncertain due to limited evidence.
Thoracic imaging for diagnosing COVID‐19 (search done on 30 September 2020)