ArticleBMC medical imaging2024
Trends in CT examination utilization in the emergency department during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC medical imaging, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Learning Anatomy With Radiology: A Systematic Review.Clinical anatomy (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Pooled it
- From order to image: reducing CT order to exam start time through targeted quality improvement in the ED.Emergency radiology · 2026Article
- Feasibility of AI-Denoised Ultra-Low-Dose CT for Detection of Acute Pelvic and Hip Fractures: A Pilot Multi-Reader Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A Quality Improvement Campaign Reduces Head and Cervical Spine Imaging in Low-risk Trauma Patients.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Growth rates in cross-sectional abdominal imaging studies by imaging modality and patient class: an increasing proportion of acute care examinations has implications for future needs.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2026Article
- Breaking the bottleneck: a quality improvement initiative to reduce overnight CT turnaround times in the emergency department.Emergency radiology · 2026Article
- Navigating the CT wave: multicentric chest imaging trends before, during, and after COVID-19 Pandemic.European radiology · 2026Article
- Emergency physicians' perceptions and optimization strategies for diagnostic imaging overuse in Somalia.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Reduction of radiation dose to the eye lens during common CT examinations of the head, paranasal sinus, and cervical spine in emergency settings: A phantom study.Journal of applied clinical medical physics · 2026Article
- Review of Peptic Ulcer Disease: Insights from Pathophysiology, Mechanisms, Pharmacotherapy, Phytotherapy, and Case Reports.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Review
- AI-driven assessment of over-scanning in chest CT: A systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of radiology open · 2025Review
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on lung cancer screening utilization and outcome: a health examination center retrospective study.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Characteristics of Emergency Department Patients Referred to an Undiagnosed Mass Clinic.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Temporal Trends and Patient Stratification in Lung Cancer: A Comprehensive Clustering Analysis from Timis County, Romania.Cancers · 2025Article
- Trends in CT pulmonary angiography utilization and recurrent imaging in sickle cell disease: a longitudinal study.International journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
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5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe increasing use of CT imaging in emergency departments, despite efforts of reducing low-value imaging, is not fully understood, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic related measures on trends and volume in CT examinations requested in the emergency department.
methodsCT examinations of the head, chest, and/or abdomen-pelvis (n = 161,008), and chest radiographs (n = 113,240) performed at our tertiary care hospital between 01/2014 and 12/2023 were retrospectively analyzed. CT examinations (head, chest, abdomen, dual-region and polytrauma) and chest radiographs requested by the emergency department during (03/2020-03/2022) and after the COVID-19 pandemic (04/2022-12/2023) were compared to a pre-pandemic control period (02/2018-02/2020). Analyses included CT examinations per emergency department visit, and prediction models based on pre-pandemic trends and inpatient data. A regular expressions text search algorithm determined the most common clinical questions.
resultsThe usage of dual-region and chest CT examinations were higher during (+ 116,4% and + 115.8%, respectively; p < .001) and after the COVID-19 pandemic (+ 88,4% and + 70.7%, respectively; p < .001), compared to the control period. Chest radiograph usage decreased (-54.1% and - 36.4%, respectively; p < .001). The post-pandemic overall CT examination rate per emergency department visit increased by 4.7%. The prediction model underestimated (p < .001) the growth (dual-region CT: 22.3%, chest CT: 26.7%, chest radiographs: -30.4%), and the rise (p < .001) was higher compared to inpatient data (dual-region CT: 54.8%, chest CT: 52.0%, CR: -32.3%). Post-pandemic, the number of clinical questions to rule out "pulmonary infiltrates", "abdominal pain" and "infection focus" increased up to 235.7% compared to the control period.
conclusionsFollowing the COVID-19 pandemic, chest CT and dual-region CT usage in the emergency department experienced a disproportionate and sustained surge compared to pre-pandemic growth.
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