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

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

BACKGROUND: This 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 BODY: Chest 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. CONCLUSION: By 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.