Update on the role of CT chest in patients presenting acutely and requiring an abdominal CT: 26 June 2020

Friday 26 June 2020

Recently published evidence suggests that the addition of chest CT in those patients presenting acutely and requiring abdominal CT has a very low diagnostic yield for features of unheralded COVID-19 pneumonia. There is also evidence that the impact of the results of this chest imaging on the acute surgical management of the patient is clinically insignificant.

We would therefore recommend that the routine use of additional CT chest in this clinical setting, together with the additional radiation dose this delivers to the patient, is not justified.


References

See additional RCR statements on the role of CT chest:

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