Introduction Amidst COVID-19 crisis, confusion exists over current radiology operations due to influx of new data and new protocols. In order to decrease confusion and reduce imaging facility related COVID-19 transmissions, we created a dedicated radiology COVID-19 call center and dedicated out-patient COVID-19 imaging sites (referred to “HOT” sites). Materials and Methods We created a central radiology call center hotline, staffed by our radiology technologists, to answer all radiology questions related to COVID-19 and help with scheduling exams. All out-patient x-ray exams became mandatory to schedule through the call center so proper COVID-19 screening could occur. If positive for COVID-19 symptoms, they are sent to “HOT” sites. Various statistical analyses were performed. Results A total of 2548 calls were received over 7 weeks with linear increase in calls during this period (R 2 =0.17, p=0.003). Most common reasons for calling were related to scheduling (n=2336, 92%) and radiology operations (n=145, 6%). At our main “HOT” site, from a total of 371 separate patient encounters by date of study, 72 patient encounters (19%) were COVID-19 positive at time of exam. Discussion This project provides efficient and reassuring radiology operations during an emergency situation by providing a single reliable point of contact and a source of truth for all facets of radiology. In doing so, we facilitate high quality patient centered care while protecting the health of our patients and staff.
Background Treatment of brain metastases can be tailored to individual lesions with treatments such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Accurate surveillance of lesions is a prerequisite but challenging in patients with multiple lesions and prior imaging studies, in a process that is laborious and time consuming. We aimed to longitudinally track several lesions using a PACS-integrated lesion tracking tool (LTT) to evaluate the efficiency of a PACS-integrated lesion tracking workflow, and characterize the prevalence of heterogenous response to treatment after GK. Methods We selected a group of brain metastases patients treated with GK at our institution. We used a PACS-Integrated LTT to track the treatment response of each lesion after first GK intervention to maximally seven diagnostic follow-up scans. We evaluated the efficiency of this tool by comparing the number of clicks necessary to complete this task with and without the tool, and examined the prevalence of heterogenous response to treatment. Results A cohort of eighty patients was selected and 494 lesions measured and tracked longitudinally for a mean follow-up time of 374 days after first GK. Use of LTT significantly decreased number of necessary clicks. 81.7% of patients had heterogenous response to treatment at the end of follow-up. The prevalence increased with increasing number of lesions. Conclusions Lesions in a single patient often differ in their response to treatment, highlighting the importance of individual lesion size assessments for further treatment planning. PACS-integrated lesion tracking enables efficient lesion surveillance workflow and specific and objective result reports to treating clinicians.
Objective Amidst COVID-19 pandemic, many states have issued stay at home advisories and non-essential business closures to limit public exposure. During this “quarantine” period, it is important to understand the volume and types of emergency/trauma radiology cases to better prepare for the continuing and future pandemics. This study demonstrates new trends in pathologies and an overall increase in positive exams. Methods A retrospective review of emergency department's imaging during the initial two weeks of this state's quarantine period, 3/23/2020–4/5/2020 was compared to similar dates of the previous year (“pre-quarantine” period), 3/25/2019–4/7/2019. One thousand emergency radiology and 991 trauma cases were evaluated. Of the emergency radiology cases 500 studies from each period were assessed, and from the trauma cases, 783 cases from pre-quarantine and 315 from the quarantine period were examined. Chi-square analysis was performed to assess for statistical significance. Results Overall there were 43.0% fewer emergency radiology studies performed during the quarantine period ( n = 4530) compared to pre-quarantine period ( n = 2585). Additionally, the number of positive cases was significantly higher ( P = 0.0001) during the quarantine period (43.0%) compared to the pre-quarantine period (30.2%). Several trends in types of trauma were observed, including a significant increase in domestic violence during the quarantine period ( P = 0.0081). Discussion Different volumes and types of emergency/trauma imaging cases were observed during the recent quarantine period. Findings may assist emergency radiology departments to plan for future pandemics or COVID-19 resurgences by offering evidence of the types and volume of emergency radiology cases one might expect.
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