Detection of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) using Radiological Examinations

An outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in China The causative agent of COVID-19 is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) The disease rapidly spreads from China to the world by trading and traveling Until April 24, 2020, approximately 2,544,792 cases were confirmed with 175,694 deaths throughout the world The highest number of cases were identified from the United States of America (USA) whereas the mortality rate is high in Portugal The diagnosis of COVID-19 is based on Computed Tomography Scanning (CT Scan) and Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) Assessing the extension of pathology, the exact location of the area involved, and assessment of the disease severity makes CT scan superior to other modalities This review shows that real-time polymerase chain reaction and imaging technology both play an important role in the diagnosis of COVID-19 However, imaging modalities have more importance in diagnosis and screening than qRT-PCR The qRT-PCR was positive in 81 3% whereas CT scan abnormality was observed in 89 8% Bilateral lobe (51 4%) abnormality was found more than a single lobe (21 5%) in COVID-19 infected patients The CT scan reports show a high-level abnormality in right lower lung lobe than others in COVID-19 infected patients The CT scan evaluates different manifestations such as the presence of ground-glass opacities, consolidations, crazy paying linear, cavitation, discrete nodules, pleural effusion, and lymphadenopathy It is concluded that imaging technology especially CT scan and X-rays play an important role in the screening and diagnosis of COVID-19 infected patients in limited access to qRT-PCR regions The common radiological manifestation was also determined, which will be helpful for the radiologist to diagnosed COVID-19 infected patients in the early stages Follow up studies required regarding the radiological examinations