Preparedness and Best Practice in Radiology Department for COVID-19 and Other Future Pandemics of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health care crisis. To reduce risks of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission in the Radiology Department, this article describes measures to increase the preparedness of Radiology Department, such as careful screening of staff and patients, thorough disinfection of equipments and rooms, appropriate use of personal protection equipment, and early isolation of patients with incidentally detected computed tomography findings suspicious for COVID-19. The familiarity of radiologists with clinical and imaging manifestations of COVID-19 pneumonia and their prognostic implications is essential to provide optimal care to patients.

Journal of thoracic imaging. 2020 May 06 [Epub ahead of print]

Yung-Liang Wan, U Joseph Schoepf, Carol C Wu, Dominic P Giovagnoli, Ming-Ting Wu, Hsian-He Hsu, Yeun-Chung Chang, Cheng-Ta Yang, Wen-Jin Cherng

Department of Medical Imaging and Intervention., Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Division of Cardiovascular Imaging, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC., Thoracic Imaging Department, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX., Department of Radiology, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University., Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tri-service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center., Department of Medical Imaging, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan., Department of Thoracic Medicine., Division of Cardiology, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University.