The Clinical and Radiological Manifestations in Coronavirus Disease 2019 With Negative Nucleic Acid Results
Open Access
- 25 June 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Open Forum Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 7 (7), ofaa252
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa252
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was a new emerging disease with high infectiousness. Its diagnosis primarily depended on real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results. This study investigated epidemiological, clinical, and radiological characteristics of COVID-19 with negative RT-PCR results before confirmation. Patients with COVID-19 were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: a negative group with negative RT-PCR results before confirmation and a positive group with positive results at the first detection. Epidemiological and clinical features were compared. Dynamic chest computerized tomography (CT) images of the negative group were evaluated. Ninety-nine laboratory-confirmed patients with COVID-19 including 8 patients (8%) with negative RT-PCR results were included. Patients from the negative group had similar epidemiological features: the average age (50.25 ± 13.27 years in the negative group and 53.70 ± 16.64 years in the positive group) and gender distribution (males made up 50% of the negative group and 62.6% of the positive group) were comparable. No significant differences were observed in clinical symptoms between the 2 groups. We found that fever was the most common symptom for both groups, followed by cough, expectoration, chest distress, fatigue, and gastroenterological symptoms. Moreover, ground-glass opacities and consolidations were the main manifestation in chest CT of patients with COVID-19 with or without confirmed RT-PCR results. Regardless of initial RT-PCR results, patients with COVID-19 had similar epidemiological, clinical, and chest CT features. Our study suggests value from early chest CT scans in COVID-19 screening and dynamic significance of radiology in disease monitoring should guide clinical decisions.Funding Information
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81670567)
This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020
- Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, ChinaThe Lancet, 2020
- Genomic characterization of the 2019 novel human-pathogenic coronavirus isolated from a patient with atypical pneumonia after visiting WuhanEmerging Microbes & Infections, 2020
- Preparing intensive care for the next pandemic influenzaCritical Care, 2019
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Infection: Chest CT FindingsAmerican Journal of Roentgenology, 2014
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus: A Case-Control Study of Hospitalized PatientsClinical Infectious Diseases, 2014
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome: Temporal Lung Changes at Thin-Section CT in 30 PatientsRadiology, 2004
- Role of lopinavir/ritonavir in the treatment of SARS: initial virological and clinical findingsThorax, 2004
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome: Clinical Outcome and Prognostic CorrelatesEmerging Infectious Diseases, 2003
- Clinical progression and viral load in a community outbreak of coronavirus-associated SARS pneumonia: a prospective studyThe Lancet, 2003