Abstract
Chest CT is not a suitable screening tool to rule out COVID 19 in children It is difficult to identify children infected with COVID 19 who have little or no respiratory symptoms. For routine clinical care in different circumstances, it is relevant to assess the COVID 19 status of patients. Routine PCR is recognised as the gold standard but can be falsely negative due to sampling errors. For diagnosing and monitoring adult COVID 19 patients, characteristic radiological lesions have been recognised [1, 2] and to assess the possibility of COVID 19 infection in adults scheduled for surgery in whom a PCR test is negative or missing, a non-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) scan has been proposed as an option in the Netherlands [3] because: (1) Patients may be pre-symptomatic in the incubation period of a COVID 19 infection and subsequently develop symptoms post-operatively, implying a greater risk for adverse post-operative outcomes; (2) Patients may be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic carriers and shedders of COVID 19, and place hospital workers and other patients at risk. eng Klein has nothing to disclose.
