TY - JOUR
T1 - Bringing radiology to patient's home using mobile equipment
T2 - A weapon to fight COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Zanardo, Moreno
AU - Schiaffino, Simone
AU - Sardanelli, Francesco
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by Ricerca Corrente funding from Italian Ministry of Health to IRCCS Policlinico San Donato.
Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by Ricerca Corrente funding from Italian Ministry of Health to IRCCS Policlinico San Donato.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) high contagiousness, it is crucial to identify and promptly isolate COVID-19 patients. In this context, chest imaging examinations, in particular chest x-ray (CXR), can play a pivotal role in different settings, to triage in case of unavailability, delay of or first negative result of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and to stratify disease severity. Considering the need to reduce, as much as possible, hospital admission of patients with suspected or confirmed infection, the use of mobile x-ray equipment could represent a safe approach. We picture a potential sequence of events, involving a team composed by a radiographer and a nurse, going to patient's home to perform CXR, nasopharyngeal swab (and, if needed, also a blood sample), with fast radiologist tele-reporting, and resulting patient management approach (home isolation or emergency room admission, when needed). This approach brings healthcare to patient's home, reducing the risk of infected subjects referring to family doctors' office or emergency departments, and strengthening community medicine while maintaining a strong connection with radiology departments.
AB - Because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) high contagiousness, it is crucial to identify and promptly isolate COVID-19 patients. In this context, chest imaging examinations, in particular chest x-ray (CXR), can play a pivotal role in different settings, to triage in case of unavailability, delay of or first negative result of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and to stratify disease severity. Considering the need to reduce, as much as possible, hospital admission of patients with suspected or confirmed infection, the use of mobile x-ray equipment could represent a safe approach. We picture a potential sequence of events, involving a team composed by a radiographer and a nurse, going to patient's home to perform CXR, nasopharyngeal swab (and, if needed, also a blood sample), with fast radiologist tele-reporting, and resulting patient management approach (home isolation or emergency room admission, when needed). This approach brings healthcare to patient's home, reducing the risk of infected subjects referring to family doctors' office or emergency departments, and strengthening community medicine while maintaining a strong connection with radiology departments.
KW - COVID-19
KW - COVID-19 diagnostic testing
KW - Infection control
KW - Mobile radiography
KW - Radiography
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U2 - 10.1016/j.clinimag.2020.06.031
DO - 10.1016/j.clinimag.2020.06.031
M3 - Article
C2 - 32585417
AN - SCOPUS:85086587834
VL - 68
SP - 99
EP - 101
JO - Clinical Imaging
JF - Clinical Imaging
SN - 0899-7071
ER -