How Did Radiologists’ Diagnostic Accuracy Have Changed in Covid-19
Pneumonia; a Single Centre Retrospective Study
Abstract
Aims Delay and false positivity in PCR test results have necessitated
accurate chest CT reporting for management of patients with COVID-19
suspected symptoms. Pandemic related workload and level of experience on
covid-dedicated chest CT scans might have effected diagnostic
performance of on-call radiologists. The aim of this study is to reveal
the interpretation errors in chest-CT reports of COVID-19 suspected
patients admitted to the ER. Methods COVID-19 dedicated chest-CT scans
which were performed between March and June 2020 were re-evaluated and
compared with the former reports of these scans and PCR test results. CT
scan results were classified into four groups. Parenchymal involvement
ratios, radiology departments’ workload, COVID-19 related educational
activities have examined. Results Out of 5721 Chest-CT scans, 783 CTs
belonging to 664 patients (340 female, 324 male) were included to this
study. RT-PCR test was positive in 398; negative in 385 cases. PCR
positivity was found to be highest in “normal” and “typical for
covid” groups whereas lowest in “atypical for covid” and “not
covid” groups. 5-25% parenchymal involvement ratio was found in 84.2%
of the cases. Regarding number of chest CT scans performed,
radiologists’ workload have found to be increased six-folds compared to
the same months of the former year. With the re-evaluation, a total of
145 IEs (18.5%) have been found. IEs were mostly precipitated in the
first two months (88.3%) and mostly in “not covid” class (60%)
regardless of PCR positivity. COVID-19 and radiology entitled
educational activities along with the ER admission rates within the
first two months of pandemic have seem to be related with the decline of
IEs within time. Conclusion COVID-19 pandemic made a great impact on
radiology departments with an inevitable burden of daily chest-CT
reporting. This workload and concomitant factors have possible effects
on diagnostic challenges in COVID-19 pneumonia.