Published in:
01-12-2020 | Computed Tomography | Computed Tomography
Chest CT practice and protocols for COVID-19 from radiation dose management perspective
Authors:
Mannudeep K. Kalra, Fatemeh Homayounieh, Chiara Arru, Ola Holmberg, Jenia Vassileva
Published in:
European Radiology
|
Issue 12/2020
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Abstract
The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has upended the world with over 6.6 million infections and over 391,000 deaths worldwide. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay is the preferred method of diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Yet, chest CT is often used in patients with known or suspected COVID-19 due to regional preferences, lack of availability of PCR assays, and false-negative PCR assays, as well as for monitoring of disease progression, complications, and treatment response. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organized a webinar to discuss CT practice and protocol optimization from a radiation protection perspective on April 9, 2020, and surveyed participants from five continents. We review important aspects of CT in COVID-19 infection from the justification of its use to specific scan protocols for optimizing radiation dose and diagnostic information.
Key Points
• Chest CT provides useful information in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
• When indicated, chest CT in most patients with COVID-19 pneumonia must be performed with non-contrast, low-dose protocol.
• Although chest CT has high sensitivity for diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia, CT findings are non-specific and overlap with other viral infections including influenza and H1N1.