ArticleEmergency radiology2023
CTPA ordering trends in local emergency departments: are they increasing and did they increase as a result of COVID-19?
Article in Emergency radiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trends in CT pulmonary angiography utilization and recurrent imaging in sickle cell disease: a longitudinal study.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- MIP technique on CTPA may be helpful in diagnosing pulmonary embolism.Emergency radiology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
purposeOrdering trends for computed tomographic pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) studies by local emergency departments were assessed, along with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these ordering trends and CTPA positivity rates.
methodsA retrospective quantitative analysis was performed on all CTPA studies ordered between February 2018 - January 2022 by three local tertiary care emergency rooms to investigate for pulmonary embolism. Data collected from the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic was compared to the two years prior to the pandemic to assess for significant changes in ordering trends and positivity rates.
resultsThe overall number of CTPA studies ordered increased from 534 studies in 2018-2019 to 657 in 2021-2022 and the rate of positive diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism varied between 15.8% to 19.5% over the four years studied. There was no statistically significant difference in the number of CTPA studies ordered when comparing the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic to the two years immediately prior; however, the positivity rate was significantly higher during the first two years of the pandemic.
conclusionOver the studied period from 2018-2022, the overall number of CTPA studies ordered by local emergency departments has increased, in line with literature reports from other locations. There was also a correlation between the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and CTPA positivity rates, possibly secondary to the prothrombotic nature of this infection or the increase in sedentary lifestyles during lockdown periods.
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