Efficacy of chest X-ray in the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia: comparison with computed tomography through a simplified scoring system designed for triage
Akın Çinkooğlu, Selen Bayraktaroğlu, Naim Ceylan, Recep Savaş
Abstract
Abstract Background There is no consensus on the imaging modality to be used in the diagnosis and management of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. The purpose of this study was to make a comparison between computed tomography (CT) and chest X-ray (CXR) through a scoring system that can be beneficial to the clinicians in making the triage of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia at their initial presentation to the hospital. Results Patients with a negative CXR (30.1%) had significantly lower computed tomography score (CTS) ( p < 0.001). Among the lung zones where the only infiltration pattern was ground glass opacity (GGO) on CT images, the ratio of abnormality seen on CXRs was 21.6%. The cut-off value of X-ray score (XRS) to distinguish the patients who needed intensive care at follow-up ( n = 12) was 6 (AUC = 0.933, 95% CI = 0.886–0.979, 100% sensitivity, 81% specificity). Conclusions Computed tomography is more effective in the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia at the initial presentation due to the ease detection of GGOs. However, a baseline CXR taken after admission to the hospital can be valuable in predicting patients to be monitored in the intensive care units.