Thoracic cavity visualization as a part of a diagnostic examination for patients with suspected COVID-19

Objective — familiarization health professionals working in emergency departments, imaging depart­ments, clinical departments, intensive care units and other health care settings with methods of diagnosis and management of COVID-19 patients.Materials and methods. 11 modern references were analyzed in this review, in which considered evidence and recommendations for use of the thoracic cavity visualization in acute care of adult patients with suspected, probable or confirmed COVID-19, including chest radiography, computed tomography and lung ultrasound.Results and discussion. It was found from the references that the thoracic cavity visualization is considered as a part of a diagnostic examination for patients with suspected COVID-19 or probable coronavirus disease, when reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing is not available, RT-PCR testing is available, but results are delayed or initial RT-PCR testing is negative, but with high clinical of suspicion of COVID-19. Imaging is also considered to be an addition to the diagnostic workup clinical and laboratory data in the management of patients already diagnosed with COVID-19. Recommendations are provided for six different clinical scenarios.Conclusions. An important component of the timely diagnosis of COVID-19 is the collection of anamnesis, the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in the nasopharyngeal lavage by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) with real-time detection of results, the thoracic cavity visualization (chest radiography, computed tomography and lung ultrasound), which helps diagnose pneumonia at the initial stage of the disease and track the effectiveness of treatment, taking into account radiography dynamics.