Image Wisely, a joint initiative of ACR, RSNA, ASRT and AAPM,
provides information to the medical community to promote safety in medical imaging.
Utility of Low-Dose Chest CT for the Diagnosis of COVID-19
While chest CT is not recommended as a routine diagnostic tool for all patients with suspected COVID-19 infection, a low-dose CT exam may be a valuable tool for a specific subset of COVID-19 patients. Dangis et al found that for patients exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms for more than 48 hours, low-dose CT demonstrated excellent sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy for diagnosis of COVID-19. The low-dose CT protocol in this Belgian study used radiation doses similar to those used in lung cancer screening in the US. Having low-dose chest CT may also be beneficial for long term surveillance of pulmonary conditions in patients with more serious COVID-19 clinical symptoms.
Image Wisely® provides this article as information that may be of interest to its audience. Image Wisely recommends reviewing the COVID-19 resources of its member societies, the ACR, RSNA, AAPM, and ASRT for the most current information and recommendations. Other valuable information may be available courtesy of the ARRS and the SNMMI.
