Abstract:

Objective: We aimed to investigate the importance of chest CT in diagnosis and treatment of pediatric patients with COVID-19 by comparing chest CT, laboratory, and clinical features. Materials and Methods: The clinical and image findings of 45 children with suspected COVID-19 , addmited to our pediatric clinic between March and April ,2020 were obtained from hospital electronic records. Results: The median age of children was 177 months, while 24 of the patients were female and 21 were male. RT-PCR results of 32 children were positive and of 13 were negative. The most common symptom was cough (87%). Thirty-three of the patients had a history of contact with an infected person. Chest CT images of the 30 cases suggested COVID-19. There was no significant relationship between RT-PCR results and chest CT findings. A significant correlation was found between chest CT severity and CRP (p <0.01). Conclusion: In our study, it was observed that chest CT does not have any advantage in diagnosis and treatment planning in pediatric cases. Therefore, considering the radiation exposure associated with CT scan, physicians should beware of clinical symptoms in children.

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