A comparison of lung ultrasound and computed tomography in the diagnosis of patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Mengshu Wang, Xufei Luo, Ling Wang, Janne Estill, Meng Lv, Ying Zhu, Qi Wang, Xiaojuan Xiao, Yang Song, Myeong Soo Lee, Hyeong Sik Ahn, Junqiang Lei, Jinhui Tian

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background Lung ultrasound (LUS) and computed tomography (CT) can both be used for diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the agreement between LUS and CT is unknown. Purpose to compare the agreement of LUS and CT in the diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia caused by COVID-19. Materials and Methods We searched PubMed, Cochrane library, Embase, Chinese Biomedicine Literature, and WHO COVID-19 databases to identify studies that compared LUS with CT in the diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia caused by COVID-19. We calculated the pooled overall, positive and negative percent agreements, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and the area under the standard receiver operating curve (SROC) for LUS in the diagnosis of COVID-19 compared with CT. Results We identified 1896 records, of which nine studies involving 531 patients were finally included. The pooled overall, positive and negative percentage agreements of LUS for the diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia caused by COVID-19 compared with CT were 81% (95% confidence interval [CI] 43–99%), 96% (95% CI, 80–99%, I2 = 92.15%) and 80% (95%CI, 60–92%, I2 = 92.85%), respectively. DOR was 37.41 (95% CI, 9.43–148.49, I2 = 63.9%), and the area under the SROC curve was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.92–0.96). The quality of evidence for both specificity and sensitivity was low because of heterogeneity and risk of bias. Conclusion The level of diagnostic agreement between LUS and CT in the diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia caused by COVID-19 is high. LUS can be therefore considered as an equally accurate alternative for CT in situations where molecular tests are not available.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1351
JournalDiagnostics
Volume11
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021 Aug

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Computed tomography
  • Lung ultrasound
  • POCUS
  • Systematic review

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Biochemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A comparison of lung ultrasound and computed tomography in the diagnosis of patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this