Better Diagnostic Modality for COVID-19: CT Chest or RT - PCR? - A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background and Objective: A set of new studies is offering perspective and guidance on the differences between using Real Time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and chest Computerized tomography (CT) in terms of sensitivity and specificity. This review paper addresses the comparative diagnostic potential of CT chest and RT-PCR for COVID-19. Method: An online literature search was carried out from Jan. 2020 to Apr. 2020 from Google -Scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct and PubMed using the MeSH key words. Twenty-five articles were retrieved. Articles with incomplete information and covering other factors like ethnicity were excluded and only the articles with comparison between two clinical diagnostic methods were included. Avoiding the duplication of issues, 5 articles were finally selected for review. Result: This review observed 98% pooled sensitivity of CT-chest being much higher than that of RT-PCR (75%). Conclusion: Patients with suspicion of COVID-19 should be screened using CT scan chest as a more sensitive technique.