Diagnostic value of chest CT in Iranian patients with suspected COVID-19

Background: in the current covid-19 pandemic, there is a rising need for a rapid and reliable diagnostic tool. we hypothesized that chest computed tomography (ct) can be a potential alternative for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr). the aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value of chest ct and rt-pcr in iranian patients with suspected covid-19. methods: in a retrospective, single-center case series, 568 consecutive hospitalized or outpatient patients with suspected covid-19 underwent chest ct and/or rt-pcr testing at imam reza hospital, the tertiary teaching hospital of tabriz university of medical sciences in iran, from february 21 and march 28, 2020. results: the sensitivity of chest ct for signifying covid-19 was 64% (95% ci: 56%– 71%) on the basis of positive rt-pcr results as a standard method. ct imaging also had a specificity of 77% (95% ci: 73%–81%), positive predictive value of 35% (95% ci: 0.31– 0.39), negative predictive value of 66% (95% ci: 0.61–0.69), positive likelihood ratio of 2.79 (95% ci: 2.26–3.46), and negative likelihood ratio of 0.47 (95% ci: 0.38–0.57). conclusion: chest ct had higher specificity in the diagnosis of covid-19 than that of the previous studies. therefore, it can play a crucial role in the early diagnosis. similar to the previous studies, the typical ct features were patchy ground-glass opacities as well as peripheral aspects of the lungs consolidations.