“During this pandemic, we need all the tools at our disposal. That’s why we’re studying whether chest imaging could help diagnose COVID-19. As more evidence becomes available, we plan to study other roles for chest imaging such as whether imaging findings are associated with disease severity.”- Dr. Matthew McInnesAn international team led by Dr. Matthew McInnes is regularly combing the latest research to find out whether chest imaging could be a useful tool for diagnosing COVID-19.
Because it is a new virus, health care providers still don’t know the best way to test for COVID-19. Nasal swab tests are reasonably accurate, but still have a false-negative rate of between two and 30 percent. A false negative is when a test says you don’t have the virus, when in fact you do.
Dr. McInnes received $200,000 from the Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund to conduct a Cochrane Living Systematic Review on whether chest imaging could diagnose COVID-19. The “living” part means the report is updated regularly to include emerging findings from this rapidly developing field.
So far, the team has found that chest CT scans can accurately identify individuals with COVID-19, but aren’t good at distinguishing COVID-19 from other respiratory conditions. The team will keep updating their review as more information becomes available.
“During this pandemic, we need all the tools at our disposal. That’s why we’re studying whether chest imaging could help diagnose COVID-19. As more evidence becomes available, we plan to study other roles for chest imaging such as whether imaging findings are associated with disease severity.”- Dr. Matthew McInnes, associate scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa.
Authors: Nayaar Islam, Jean-Paul Salameh, Mariska MG Leeflang, Lotty Hooft, Trevor A McGrath. Christian B Pol, Robert A Frank, Sakib Kazi, Ross Prager, Samanjit S Hare, Carole Dennie. René Spijker, Jonathan J Deeks, Jacqueline Dinnes, Kevin Jenniskens, Daniël A Korevaar, Jérémie F Cohen, Ann Van den Bruel, Yemisi Takwoingi, Janneke de Wijgert, Junfeng Wang, Matthew DF McInnes, Cochrane COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group
Funding: Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa. Research at The Ottawa Hospital is possible because of generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
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