Abdominal CT in COVID-19 patients: incidence, indications, and findings
- PDF / 567,355 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 84 Downloads / 163 Views
PRACTICE
Abdominal CT in COVID‑19 patients: incidence, indications, and findings Daniel T. Barkmeier1 · Erica B. Stein1 · Katherine Bojicic1 · Bamidele Otemuyiwa1 · Dharshan Vummidi1 · Aamer Chughtai1 · James H. Ellis1 Received: 14 July 2020 / Revised: 31 August 2020 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency, indications, and findings of abdominal CTs ordered in the initial evaluation of patients who had a positive COVID-19 test performed in our institution. Methods Retrospective chart review was performed on all patients who had a positive test for COVID-19 performed at a single quaternary care center from 1/20/2020 through 5/8/2020. In a subset of patients undergoing abdominal CT as part of the initial evaluation, the demographics, suspected COVID-19 status at the time of scan, presenting complaints, and abdominal CT findings were recorded. Cardiothoracic radiologists reviewed and scored the visualized lung bases for the likelihood of COVID-19. Results Only 43 (4.1%) of 1057 COVID-19 patients presented with abdominal complaints sufficient to warrant an abdominal CT. Of these 43 patients, the vast majority (39, 91%) were known or suspected to have COVID-19 at the time of the scan. Most (27/43, 63%) scans showed no acute abdominal abnormality, and those that were positive did not share a discernable pattern of abnormalities. Lung base abnormalities were common, and there was moderate inter-reviewer reliability. Conclusion A minority of COVID-19 patients present with abdominal complaints sufficient to warrant a dedicated CT of the abdomen, and most of these studies will be negative or have abdominal findings not associated with COVID-19. Appropriate lung base findings are a more consistent indication of COVID-19 infection than abdominal findings. Keywords COVID-19 · Coronavirus · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 · Abdomen · Lung diseases · Tomography · X-ray computed
Introduction The majority of severe morbidity and mortality from the pandemic novel coronavirus COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) disease have been pulmonary [1, 2] and imaging abnormalities of the lungs have been a hallmark of the disease [3–6]. The pulmonary manifestations have tended to overshadow the abdominal symptoms of the disease, even though some reports [7] have indicated that as many as 57% of patients with low-severity COVID-19 disease have abdominal complaints alone or in combination with pulmonary symptoms. If abdominal CT is performed, the radiologist may be the * Daniel T. Barkmeier [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109‑5030, USA
first to suggest COVID-19 when imaging of the lung bases show typical findings of COVID-19 pulmonary disease [8–10]. In other patients, the diagnosis of COVID-19 may already be known or suspected, but abdominal symptoms are of sufficient severity to result in re
Data Loading...
