low-dose chest CT protocol to diagnose and discriminate COVID-19 from other infections compared to a standard dose

Abstract

Purposal: The general goal of the present paper is determining whether or not image quality of low-dosage protocol MDCT scanning of the chest in the COVID-19 has any considerable differences to the image quality of standard-dose protocol that has been based upon the subjective assessments, for diagnosing and managing COVID-19 patients. Methods:A standard automodulation protocol of 50mAs – 210mAs has been carried out for all of them (243) patients. The 0.5 sec. rotation time. Of 243 patients whose computed tomography scan have shown COVID-19 infection signs, 141 of the patients that were older than 49 years old have been chosen. Low dosage computed tomography scans (30mAs) have been carried out on those patients right away. Results: Out of 243 COVID-19 patients that are older than 49 based on PCR have undergone a computed tomography scan of the chest, only 141 of them have shown COVID-19 signs.In comparison with the standarddosage, lowdosage have shown very good sensitivity in the detection of the typical COVID-19 findings (P-values less than 0.05 one reader and P-values less than 0.01 two readers). The average values of the effective dosage have been 6.33±2.83and 1.45±0.30mSv respectively in the standard and low-dosage, Conclusions: Despitethe limitations of this research, the authors highly recommend employing a low dosage method in all of the non-contracted computed tomography scanning of the chest in the cases of COVID-19 infections.