The value of computed tomography in the diagnosis and supervision of infants and children infected with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)

Pneumonia associated with COVID-19 had been a concerning and serious public health threat around the world. In this article, we retrospectively explored the value of unenhanced chest CT in the diagnosis and supervision of infants and children infected with COVID-19 from Beijing, China. A total of 25 infants and children who were confirmed to have COVID-19 by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were included. All cases underwent unenhanced chest CT upon admission day, some cases underwent chest CT during hospitalization and during follow-up after discharge, and the CT imaging characteristics were analyzed. Basic information, treatment and follow-up results were recorded. There were 6 infants and 19 children and the median age was 6.5 (3.1-9.5) years old. There were 18 patients upon admission who had negative CT images, 10 with initial negative images that had secondary negative CT scans and 3 children with initial negative images who had third negative CT scans. There were 16 children who were cured and discharged, 7 that were positive in the pharyngeal swab test of nucleic acids during the follow-up period, and all them had initial negative CT images. Leukocytopenia, lymphocytosis, evaluated T lymphocyte and CD4 T lymphocyte counts were found in some cases. We found that the vast majority of infants and children with confirmed COVID-19 had negative CT scans at the initial presentation and follow-up period and this result might suggest a low need for chest CT, meanwhile, some children seemed to have a higher re-positive test of nucleic acids.