A review on chest CT scanning parameters implemented in COVID-19 patients: bringing low-dose CT protocols into play

Javid Azadbakht,Masoud Najafi,Fateme Elikaii,Zahra Sadat Lajevardi,Bagher Farhood,Daryoush Khoramian,Amir Hossein Aflatoonian,Hamed Bagheri

doi:10.1186/s43055-020-00400-1

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aims to review chest computed tomography (CT) scanning parameters which are utilized to evaluate patients for COVID-19-induced pneumonia. Also, some of radiation dose reduction techniques in CT would be mentioned, because using these techniques or low-dose protocol can decrease the radiation burden on the population.Main bodyChest CT scan can play a key diagnostic role in COVID-19 patients. Additionally, it can be useful to monitor imaging changes during treatment. However, CT scan overuse during the COVID-19 pandemic raises concerns about radiation-induced adverse effects, both in patients and healthcare workers.ConclusionBy evaluating the CT scanning parameters used in several studies, one can find the necessity for optimizing these parameters. It has been found that chest CT scan taken using low-dose CT protocol is a reliable diagnostic tool to detect COVID-19 pneumonia in daily practice. Moreover, the low-dose chest CT protocol results in a remarkable reduction (up to 89%) in the radiation dose compared to the standard-dose protocol, not lowering diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19-induced pneumonia in CT images. Therefore, its employment in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic is highly recommended.

Highlights

Chest computed tomography (CT) scanning parameters used in the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection Some studies have reported the chest CT findings of the patients infected with COVID-19
The low-dose chest CT protocol results in a remarkable reduction in the radiation dose compared to the standard-dose protocol, not lowering diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19-induced pneumonia in CT images
The results obtained from the low-dose chest CT protocol in the diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia [68, 69] were in agreement with low-dose chest CT protocols used in detecting other diseases [61, 63], as the findings showed that the radiological features resulted from low-dose protocols can be comparable to those obtained from the standarddose protocols, with a significant reduction in radiation dose

Summary

Conclusion

Given the growing number of chest CT scan done during the COVID-19 pandemic, the increased radiation burden on patients and medical staff is becoming a matter of concern. The findings obtained from the low-dose chest CT protocol (compared to the standard-dose protocol) showed that using this protocol is reliable in the detection of COVID-19 pneumonia in daily practice. The low-dose chest CT protocol results in a remarkable reduction (up to 89%) in the radiation dose compared to the standard-dose protocol, not lowering the diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19induced pneumonia in CT images. One of the main limitations of using the low-dose chest CT protocols to detect COVID-19 pneumonia is that there are few studies available which have compared the radiological findings in both low-dose and standarddose protocols; further comparative studies are suggested to get assured of low-dose CT scan sufficiency in diagnosing COVID-19 pneumonia

Background

Main text

Findings