Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences

.: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Computed Tomography Usages in Emergency Department: Cross-sectional Study
COVID-19 Pandemisinin Acil Bilgisayarlı Tomografi Kullanımına Etkileri: Kesitsel Çalışma
Pınar KILIÇa, Halit Nahit ŞENDURb
aClinic of Radiology, Pursaklar State Hospital, Ankara, TURKEY
bDepartment of Radiology, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, TURKEY
Turkiye Klinikleri J Med Sci. 2021;41(3):274-9
doi: 10.5336/medsci.2021-81381
Article Language: EN
Full Text
ABSTRACT
 Objective: To investigate the number of performed computed tomography (CT) scans in emergency department at our institution during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in comparison to the same period of the previous year. Material and Methods: In this retrospective study, we evaluated CT imaging data in the emergency department in April to June timespan in the years of 2019 and 2020. Monthly admitted patient numbers, CT imaging case volumes, age and gender of the patients underwent CT scans at emergency department were noted and compared for each year. For the year 2020, among the CT performed patients who had suspicious and nonsuspicious symptoms for COVID-19 and who had positive reverse transcryptase polymerase chain reaction test were noted for each month. The Student t-test was used for comparison of variables in two groups. Results: In 2020, despite the decrease in total number of patients admitted to emergency department, CT utilization was increased more than 12 times compared to 2019. In comparison to 2019, the mean age of CT performed patients was significantly younger in 2020 (p<0.001). Among the CT performed patients, brain (68.5%) and chest (88.6%) were the most scanned anatomical sites in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Based on couple comparisons for all anatomical sites, there was a significant increase in chest CT utilization in 2020 (p<0.001). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic CT usages increased, a higher rate of chest CT was performed and younger patients were scanned in emergency department compared with 2019.

Keywords: COVID-19; computed tomography usage; chest computed tomography
ÖZET
 Amaç: Bu çalışmada amacımız, koronavirüs hastalığı-2019 [coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)] pandemisinde acil bilgisayarlı tomografi (BT) kullanımını, bir önceki yılın aynı dönemiyle karşılaştırarak araştırmaktır. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu çalışmada, acil serviste 2019 ve 2020 yıllarında Nisan-Haziran ayları arasında, BT inceleme verilerini retrospektif olarak değerlendirdik. Acil servise kabul edilen hasta sayıları, BT inceleme sayıları, acil BT incelemesi yapılan hastaların yaş ve cinsiyetleri not edildi ve 2019 ile 2020 yıllarındaki verileri karşılaştırıldı. 2020 yılında BT incelemesi yapılan hastalar arasında, COVID-19 enfeksiyonu açısından şüpheli semptomları olan ve polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu testi pozitif olan hastalar kaydedildi. Her iki gruptaki değişkenlerin karşılaştırılmasında Student t-testi kullanıldı. Bulgular: 2020 yılında, acil servise başvuran toplam hasta sayısının azalmasına rağmen BT kullanımı 2019 yılıyla karşılaştırıldığında 12 kattan fazla artmıştır. BT incelemesi yapılan hastaların ortalama yaşı 2020 yılında, 2019 yılına göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı daha düşüktü (p<0,001). BT incelemesi yapılan hastalar arasında beyin (%68,5) ve toraks (%88,6) her iki yıl için en çok taranan anatomik alanlardı. Tüm anatomik alanların ikili karşılaştırmasında, 2020 yılında toraks BT kullanımında istatistiksel açıdan anlamlı artış saptandı (p<0,001). Sonuç: COVID-19 pandemisi sırasında, acil BT kullanımı 2019 yılına göre artmıştır, geçen yıla göre daha yüksek oranda toraks BT uygulanmıştır ve daha genç hastalar incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19; bilgisayarlı tomografi kullanımı; toraks bilgisayarlı tomografi
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