Did radiation exposure increase with chest computed tomography use among different ages during the COVID-19 pandemic? A multi-center study with 42028 chest computed tomography scans

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Tarih

2023

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Galenos Publishing House

Erişim Hakkı

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Özet

PURPOSE To determine whether radiation exposure increased among different ages with chest computed tomography (CT) use during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS Patients with chest CT scans in an 8-month period of the pandemic between March 15, 2020, and November 15, 2020, and the same period of the preceding year were included in the study. Indications of chest CT scans were obtained from the clinical notes and categorized as infectious diseases, neoplastic disorders, trauma, and other diseases. Chest CT scans for infectious diseases during the pandemic were compared with those with the same indications in 2019. The dose-length product values were obtained from the protocol screen individually. RESULTS The total number of chest CT scans with an indication of infectious disease was 21746 in 2020 and 4318 in 2019. Total radiation exposure increased by 573% with the use of chest CT for infectious indications but decreased by 19% for neoplasia, 12% for trauma, and 43% for other reasons. The mean age of the patients scanned in 2019 was significantly higher than those scanned during the pandemic (64.6 vs. 50.3 years). A striking increase was seen in the 10–59 age group during the pandemic (P < 0.001). The highest increase was seen in the 20–29 age group, being 18.6 fold. One death was recorded per 58 chest CT scans during the pandemic. Chest CT use was substantially higher at the beginning of the pandemic. CONCLUSION Chest CT was excessively used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Young and middle-aged people were exposed more than others. The impact of COVID-19-pandemic-related radiation exposure on public health should be followed carefully in future years. © 2023, Turkish Society of Radiology. All rights reserved.

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Anahtar Kelimeler

COVID-19 pandemic; CT; pneumonia; radiation; thoracic, iodine; adolescent; adult; aged; aortic aneurysm; aortic dissection; Article; child; computer assisted tomography; coronavirus disease 2019; dosimetry; female; human; infant; infection; injury; lung embolism; male; middle aged; multicenter study (topic); neoplasm; newborn; pandemic; pneumonia; radiation dose; radiation exposure; retrospective study; vascular disease; very elderly; adverse event; clinical trial; communicable disease; multicenter study; pandemic; procedures; thorax radiography; x-ray computed tomography; Communicable Diseases; COVID-19; Humans; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Radiation Dosage; Radiation Exposure; Radiography, Thoracic; Retrospective Studies; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

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