Emergency radiology
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Emergency radiology · Dec 2020
Comparative StudyFeasibility of using point-of-care lung ultrasound for early triage of COVID-19 patients in the emergency room.
Diagnostic value of point-of-care lung ultrasound (POCUS) in detection of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in an emergency setting is currently unclear. In this study, we aimed to compare diagnostic performance, in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy, of POCUS lung, chest CT, and RT-PCR for clinically suspected COVID-19 infections in patients submitting to the emergency room (ER). ⋯ POCUS may provide early ER triage with a useful, rapid, low-threshold, and safe screening tool in evaluating possible COVID-19 infections. Due to limited specificity, suggestive POCUS lung findings should be confirmed with RT-PCR or chest CT.
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Emergency radiology · Dec 2020
A low-dose chest CT protocol for the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia: a prospective study.
The increasing trend of chest CT utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates novel protocols with reduced dose and maintained diagnostic accuracy. We aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of 30-mAs chest CT protocol in comparison with a 150-mAs standard-dose routine protocol for imaging of COVID-19 pneumonia. ⋯ According to our study, it was found that proposed low-dose CT chest protocol is reliable in detecting COVID-19 pneumonia in daily practice with significant reduction in radiation dose and estimated cancer risk.
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Emergency radiology · Dec 2020
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department CT for suspected diverticulitis.
This study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department CT use for acute nontraumatic abdominal pain, to better understand why imaging volume so drastically decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Reduced emergency abdominopelvic CT volume during the COVID-19 pandemic can partially be explained by decreased imaging of lower acuity patients. This data may help formulate future strategies for imaging resource utilization with an improved understanding of the relationship between perceived imaging risk and symptom acuity.
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Emergency radiology · Dec 2020
Multicenter StudyChest CT for triage during COVID-19 on the emergency department: myth or truth?
We aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of chest CT compared with first RT-PCR results in adult patients suspected of COVID-19 infection in an ED setting. We also constructed a predictive machine learning model based on chest CT and additional data to improve the diagnostic accuracy of chest CT. ⋯ Chest CT, using the CO-RADS scoring system, is a sensitive and specific method that can aid in the diagnosis of COVID-19, especially if RT-PCR tests are scarce during an outbreak. Combining a predictive machine learning model could further improve the accuracy of diagnostic chest CT for COVID-19. Further candidate predictors should be analyzed to improve our model. However, RT-PCR should remain the primary standard of testing as up to 9% of RT-PCR positive patients are not diagnosed by chest CT or our machine learning model.
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Emergency radiology · Dec 2020
Multicenter StudyRadiographic and chest CT imaging presentation and follow-up of COVID-19 pneumonia: a multicenter experience from an endemic area.
COVID-19 has infected more than 2 million people in the world in less than 5 months outbreak. Chest imaging is recommended for triage of suspected cases of COVID-19 with moderate-severe clinical features and high pre-test probability of disease, and may help for patient follow-up and to identify patients at higher risk of disease worsening. This pictorial essay illustrates typical and uncommon imaging findings of COVID-19 pneumonia and the role of imaging for patient management.