Burak BEKGÖZ, Fatih KAHRAMAN, Eren USUL, Ali ŞAHİN, İshak ŞAN

The Role of Chest Computerized Tomography in Covıd-19 Diagnosis in Emergency Department Settings

In this study, the chest computed tomography (chest CT) findings of patients with suspected COVID-19 admitted to the emergency department were examined, and it was evaluated whether chest CT should be performed in each patient with suspected COVID-19. Patients with suspected COVID-19 and who had chest CT were included in the study. Swab samples were taken from the throat and nose of the patients for RT-PCR. Chest CT was applied to the patients according to the physician's decision. A team of 5 radiologists evaluated the chest CT reports. 251 patients were included in the study. In the chest CT of 154 patients (61.4%), findings compatible with COVID-19 pneumonia were found. The number of patients who were found to have COVID-19 by PCR test result was 138 (55.0%). The most common pneumonia finding was found to be ground glass (55.8%) Most of the patients had findings in both lungs (25.9%). Less frequently, the right lung (23.1%) was affected. The least affected was the left lung (14.7%). The most frequently affected part of the left lung was the lower lobe. In emergency services, the use of chest CT after the physical examination of the patients with suspected lung involvement may be useful in the diagnosis of COVID-19.

Keywords:

COVID-19 RT-PCR Testing, Computed tomography, Pneumonia, Emergency department,

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