key: cord-0827641-pkpjce2l authors: Yang, Wenjie; Yan, Fuhua title: Patients with RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 and Normal Chest CT date: 2020-03-06 journal: Radiology DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2020200702 sha: 93a6b884011b6bcae9657101a5c4603420fc62b4 doc_id: 827641 cord_uid: pkpjce2l nan We read with great interest the recently published articles on Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Radiology. Thanks to the journal for the rapid and efficient efforts, which is helping medical staff members and radiologists around the world improve their understanding of this disease. CT can play a vital role in the early detection and management of COVID-19 (1, 2) . However, it is worth emphasizing that a patient with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 infection may have normal chest CT at admission. Bernheim In contrast, Pan et al (6) reported four of 21 (19%) patients with first normal CT had lung abnormalities on the follow-up CT approximately 4 days later. In our experience (7), among 17 of 149 (11.4%) symptomatic patients with normal chest CT on admission, 12 remained negative 10 days later with two to three follow-up CT examinations and the chest CT of the other five patients became positive over an average of 7 days. These reports confirm that a normal chest CT scan cannot exclude the diagnosis of COVID-19, especially for patients with early onset of symptoms. At present, RT-PCR test remains the reference standard to make a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 infection despite the false-negative rate. In the fifth edition of the Diagnosis and Treatment Program of 2019 New Coronavirus Pneumonia proposed by The National Health Commission of China (8), chest CT findings were included as evidence of clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 for patients in Hubei province. However, chest CT findings were removed from diagnostic criteria in the most recently published sixth version (9) . The final etiology diagnosis of COVID-19 should be confirmed by positive RT-PCR or gene sequencing. The early diagnosis of COVID-19 is critical for prevention and control of this pandemic. Clinicians should be vigilant at all times to identify patients with COVID-19 infection, who may have few or no clinical symptoms, normal chest CT, and or even initial negative PR-PCT test. Disclosures of Conflicts of Interest: W.Y. disclosed no relevant relationships. F.Y. disclosed no relevant relationships. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (CO-VID-19): A Perspective from China Essentials for Radiologists on COVID-19: An Update-Radiology Scientific Expert Panel Chest CT Findings in Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19): Relationship to Duration of Infection Sensitivity of Chest CT for COVID-19: Comparison to RT-PCR Correlation of Chest CT and RT-PCR Testing in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China: A Report of 1014 Cases Time course of lung changes on chest CT during recovery from 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia Clinical characteristics and imaging manifestations of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19):A multi-center study in Wenzhou city Office of state administration of traditional Chinese medicine. Notice on the issuance of a program for the diagnosis and treatment of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (trial fifth edition). URL NEEDED Office of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Notice on the issuance of a program for the diagnosis and treatment of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (trial sixth edition). URL NEEDED