Case Report
Comparative Analysis of CORADS Score on HRCT Chest and RT-PCR Swab Test Outcomes in Suspected COVID-19 Cases – A Cross-Sectional Study
Mehta R1 and Bagada A2*
1Chairman and Head of Department of Imaging Sciences, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, India.
2Ex-Resident, Department of Radiology, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, India.
2Ex-Resident, Department of Radiology, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, India.
*Corresponding author:Archana Bagada, Department of Imaging sciences, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, India. E-Mail Id: drarchie93@gmail.com
Copyright: © 2025 Mehta R, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Article Information: Submission: 15/12/2024; Accepted: 17/01/2025; Published: 22/01/2025
Abstract
Background: The COVID- 19 pandemic has brought about significant challenges in the healthcare industry, with a primary focus
on identifying and diagnosing cases of SARS- CoV- 2 infection. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is regarded as the definitive method for diagnosing COVID-19. High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) examination plays an important role because of its high sensitivity. Our study was planned to evaluate the Covid 19 reporting and data system (CORADS) scoring classification system for reporting COVID-19 pneumonia and to assess the correlation between HRCT findings and RTPCR test.
Methodology: A single centre, hospital based, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted from 1st July 2020 to 30th June 2020 and a total of 200 patients were included in the study.
Results: 86 cases (43%) were seen between 61- 80 years of age group, 70% (141) were male, 85% patients were symptomatic for COVID-19. 92% had ground glass opacities and 48% had crazy paving and were significantly associated with RTPCR (P- value <0.001). CORADS 1, CORADS 2, CORADS 3, CORADS 5, CORADS 6 were significantly associated (P- value <0.001) with RTPCR whereas CORADS 4 did not show any significant association with RTPCR in our study.
Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a significant correlation between CORADS scores and RT-PCR results in diagnosing COVID-19, particularly for CORADS categories 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, which showed strong associations with RT-PCR outcomes. The high prevalence of ground-glass opacities and crazy paving patterns in CT findings further underscores the role of HRCT in detecting COVID-19 pneumonia. These findings suggest that the CORADS classification can serve as a valuable diagnostic tool, especially in settings with limited RT-PCR accessibility, to support early and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19, facilitating timely patient management and resource allocation.
Methodology: A single centre, hospital based, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted from 1st July 2020 to 30th June 2020 and a total of 200 patients were included in the study.
Results: 86 cases (43%) were seen between 61- 80 years of age group, 70% (141) were male, 85% patients were symptomatic for COVID-19. 92% had ground glass opacities and 48% had crazy paving and were significantly associated with RTPCR (P- value <0.001). CORADS 1, CORADS 2, CORADS 3, CORADS 5, CORADS 6 were significantly associated (P- value <0.001) with RTPCR whereas CORADS 4 did not show any significant association with RTPCR in our study.
Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a significant correlation between CORADS scores and RT-PCR results in diagnosing COVID-19, particularly for CORADS categories 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, which showed strong associations with RT-PCR outcomes. The high prevalence of ground-glass opacities and crazy paving patterns in CT findings further underscores the role of HRCT in detecting COVID-19 pneumonia. These findings suggest that the CORADS classification can serve as a valuable diagnostic tool, especially in settings with limited RT-PCR accessibility, to support early and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19, facilitating timely patient management and resource allocation.
Keywords:COVID-19; CORADS; RT-PCR