‘CT scan of chest mandatory for Covid patients before discharge’

Following the footsteps of China, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made chest CT scans compulsory for Covid-19 patients during discharge, for better

Following the footsteps of China, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made chest CT scans compulsory for Covid-19 patients during discharge, for better identification of any presence of the novel coronavirus in the body.

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Though CT scan is more expensive and also exposes patients to a low dose of radiation, it became popular among Chinese doctors in quickly identifying cases. The technology helps in identifying borderline suspicious cases, asymptomatic patients along with Covid-positive people, whose swab test reports came negative, said radiologists.

“The CT scan can help identify small, patchy translucent white areas in the lungs that we call ‘ground glass opacities’. These cotton-like spots are indicators of the presence of Sars-Cov-2,” said Dr Natasha Nanda, a radiologist from Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital.

The same observations have been made in the civic-run BYL Nair Hospital. Following which, BMC made changes in their discharge protocols. “According to experts, these scans help in ascertaining Covid-19 cases better. Thus, we decided to add this new rule of compulsory CT scan of recovered patients during discharge,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner (health), BMC.

In a recent study— ‘Correlation of Chest CT and RT-PCR Testing in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China’ published in journal— Radiology, stated that chest CT scan found 97% of Covid-19 infections. The study conducted among 1,014 patients in China also revealed that 48% of patients who had negative results on the swab test, actually still had the disease.

Dr Nanda added, “It is important to do a CT scan on the patient before discharge even though the swab test is negative. If a doctor finds any white spots, it means that the virus is still active.”

Many radiologists and epidemiologists also stated that the CT scan is safer for medical staff than collecting swab samples from suspected patients. “Collecting the swab can trigger coughing, making the technician or nurse more vulnerable to acquiring the infection. A CT scan is safer but it requires proper sanitation after each patient’s scanning,” said a radiologist from Nair Hospital.

In China, considering the success rate of these scans in early and more evident findings, all fever clinics installed the machines.

“For aggressive disease identification, we need to involve both swab tests and CT scans to ensure the highest authenticity,” said Dr Om Srivastava, a city-based epidemiologist.