Chest X-rays could provide 'rapid, cost-effective' COVID-19 diagnosis when 'adequate testing is lacking'

Chest X-rays "could provide a rapid, cost-effective diagnosis of COVID-19," a team of radiologists at Louisiana State University Health New Orleans found, Science Daily reports.

When cases were spiking in New Orleans back in March, the LSU team recognized an unusual pattern on chest X-rays — "the presence of patchy and/or confluent, band-like glass opacity or consolidation in a peripheral and mid-to-lower lung zone distribution" — and discovered that it was "highly suggestive" of a coronavirus infection. Indeed, the chest X-rays characteristic in appearance for COVID-19 had a predictive value of nearly 84 percent.

The X-rays, which are low in sensitivity, shouldn't be a substitute for PCR tests, but they're fast and affordable, and could be useful for health-care fighters, "especially when adequate testing is lacking," the radiologists said. Read more at Science Daily.

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