• Guillaume Herpe, Mathieu Naudin, Mathieu Léderlin, Farida Enikeeva, Olivier Boumendil, Lucie Cassagnes, Madeleine Cavet, Kathia Chaumoitre, Philippe Feuerstein, Isabelle Fitton, Violaine Flory, Cornelia Anna Freitag, Jean Yves Gaubert, Jules Gregory, Hubert Nivet, Mickaël Ohana, Isabelle Petit, Nicolas Sans, Mathilde Wagner, Rémy Guillevin, Pierre-Jean Saulnier, Jean-Michel Bartoli, Jean Pierre Tasu, and Jean-Paul Beregi.
• University Hospital Centre Poitiers, Radiology, 2 rue de la milétrie, 86000, Poitiers, Vienne, France. guillaume.herpe@chu-poitiers.fr.
• Eur Radiol. 2020 Dec 1; 30 (12): 6537-6544.

PurposeTo determine the impact of the COVID-19 on the CT activities in French radiological centers during the epidemic peak.Materials And MethodsA cross-sectional prospective CT scan survey was conducted between March 16 and April 12, 2020, in accordance with the local IRB. Seven hundred nine radiology centers were invited to participate in a weekly online survey. Numbers of CT examinations related to COVID-19 including at least chest (CTcovid) and whole chest CT scan activities (CTchest) were recorded each week. A sub-analysis on French departments was performed during the 4 weeks of the study. The impact of the number of RT-PCRs (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reactions) on the CT workflow was tested using two-sample t test and Pearson's test.ResultsFive hundred seventy-seven structures finally registered (78%) with mean response numbers of 336 ± 18.9 (323; 351). Mean CTchest activity per radiologic structure ranged from 75.8 ± 133 (0-1444) on week 12 to 99.3 ± 138.6 (0-1147) on week 13. Mean ratio of CTcovid on CTchest varied from 0.36 to 0.59 on week 12 and week 14 respectively. There was a significant relationship between the number of RT-PCR performed and the number of CTcovid (r = 0.73, p = 3.10-16) but no link with the number of positive RT-PCR results.ConclusionIn case of local high density COVID-19, CT workflow is strongly modified and redirected to the management of these specific patients.Key Points• Over the 4-week survey period, 117,686 chest CT (CTtotal) were performed among the responding centers, including 61,784 (52%) CT performed for COVID-19 (CTcovid). • Across the country, the ratio CTcovid/CTtotal varied from 0.36 to 0.59 and depended significantly on the local epidemic density (p = 0.003). • In clinical practice, in a context of growing epidemic, in France, chest CT was used as a surrogate to RT-PCR for patient triage.

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