Chest radiography features can aid in the diagnosis of CMV pneumonia, but they cannot be utilized to distinguish between other common causes of pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. A typical approach for diagnosis is a chest radiograph finding consistent with pneumonia and a bronchioalveolar lavage (BAL) test that is CMV positive. The CT scan is more sensitive in detecting infiltrates. It's proven helpful in individuals who have hypoxia but no apparent infiltration on chest X-ray. A CT scan is also performed to detect changes in the brain.