Don’t Count on a Normal Chest Radiograph to Rule Out Pneumonia in a Bedridden Patient

In a study of chest radiography to assess 58 bedridden patients for pneumonia, the sensitivity was found to be 65%, the specificity 93% and the positive and negative predictive values were 83 and 65%, respectively. The overall accuracy of pneumonia diagnosis was 69%

The figures above are clearly not as high as one would wish. In the setting of suspected pneumonia in a bedfast patient, the gold standard continues to be non-contrast-enhanced high-resolution computed tomography of the chest

Reference

Esayag Y, Nikitin I, Bar-Ziv J, et al. Diagnostic value of chest radiographs in bedridden patients suspected of having pneumonia. Am J Med. 2010;123(1):88.e1–e5.